Trump called Modi to seek Nobel endorsement, credit for India-Pakistan ceasefire; Indian PM refused: NYT

US President Donald Trump claimed credit for ending hostilities between India and Pakistan in May and sought New Delhi’s backing for a Nobel Peace Prize nomination during a 17 June phone call with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, The New York Times reported on Saturday.

According to the report, nearly a month after the conflict, Trump told Modi “how proud he was of ending the military escalation” and “mentioned that Pakistan was going to nominate him for the Nobel Peace Prize”, citing interviews with unnamed sources in New Delhi and Washington. “The not-so-subtle implication, according to people familiar with the call, was that Mr Modi should do the same,” it added.

Modi is said to have replied that US involvement “had nothing to do with the recent cease-fire”, stressing that matters had been “settled directly between India and Pakistan”. The report noted, “Mr Trump largely brushed off Mr Modi’s comments, but the disagreement – and Mr Modi’s refusal to engage on the Nobel – has played an outsize role in the souring relationship between the two leaders…”

Indian officials offered no response. Sources questioned the accuracy of the account and pointed instead to a statement by foreign secretary Vikram Misri on 18 June, which recounted the phone call.

The White House also did not acknowledge the conversation, and Trump made no mention of it on social media.

India has consistently rejected third-party mediation in its disputes with Pakistan. The US, however, has stepped in to defuse tensions on several occasions, including during the Kargil war in 1999 and after the Pulwama suicide bombing in 2019, which brought the two sides close to war.

Trump was the first to announce the end of hostilities on 10 May, and an official US readout even described the development as a ceasefire brokered by Washington. Since then, Trump has repeatedly insisted he persuaded India and Pakistan to halt fighting, claiming he used the threat of ending trade with both countries.

Weeks after the June call, and even as talks on an India–US trade deal were under way, Trump announced a 25% reciprocal tariff on Indian goods. He later followed this with another 25% punitive tariff over India’s purchase of Russian oil, further straining ties.

Trump has also continued to argue he deserves a Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to end conflicts worldwide. “I won’t get a Nobel Peace Prize for stopping the war between India and Pakistan,” Trump said in a social media post in June. “No, I won’t get a Nobel Peace Prize no matter what I do.”