'I Was In The Room...:' Jaishankar Rebuts Trump's Ceasefire Claim, Recounts India-Pakistan Conflict Chronology
Jaishankar refuted claims that trade was a factor in discussions, asserting that India's position on the ceasefire was driven by security interests, not external pressure
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has once again firmly rejected US President Donald Trump's assertion that trade was used as leverage to push India and Pakistan into agreeing to a ceasefire following the escalation of tensions in the aftermath of the Pahalgam attack.
Speaking exclusively with Newsweek in New York, Jaishankar refuted claims that trade was a factor in the diplomatic discussions, asserting that India's position on the ceasefire was driven by security interests, not external pressure.
Detailing his first-hand account of the talks between New Delhi and Washington before the ceasefire agreement with Islamabad, Jaishankar emphasised that there was no link between trade negotiations and the ceasefire decision. He revealed that he was with Prime Minister Narendra Modi when US Vice-President JD Vance contacted him by phone, clarifying that no such trade-condition linkage was discussed from India's side.
'I can tell you that I was in the room when Vice President Vance spoke to Prime Minister Modi on the night of May 9, saying that the Pakistanis would launch a very massive assault on India…We did not accept certain things, and the Prime Minister was impervious to what the Pakistanis were threatening to do," the minister said, adding: 'On the contrary, he (PM Modi) indicated that there would be a response from us."
Sharing the chronology of the events leading up to the ceasefire, Jaishankar said after Vance's call, what followed the next morning was a call between the foreign minister and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio who told him that 'Pakistanis were ready to talk". Later that afternoon, Pakistan's Director General of Military Operations, Major General Kashif Abdullah, directly called his Indian counterpart, Lieutenant General Rajiv Ghai, to seek a ceasefire.
'So, I can only tell you from my personal experience what happened," Jaishankar told Newsweek's CEO Dev Pragad in a fireside chat.
First Published:
July 01, 2025, 12:53 IST
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