President Donald Trump once again spoke about settling eight wars since taking office. His latest claim was made during the 79-year-old’s speech at the inaugural meeting of the ‘Board of Peace’, his initiative to secure stability in Gaza. Trump even suggested that a ninth one ‘is to come’.
“We settled 8 wars, and I think a ninth is to come,” Trump said. The president had made a similar claim in Davos. He said that it
“I settled eight other wars. India, Pakistan, I settled other wars that were… Vladimir Putin called me, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. He (Putin) said, I can’t believe you settled that one. They were going on for 35 years. I settled it in one day. And President Putin called me. He said, ‘You know, I can’t believe I worked on that war for 10 years trying to settle it. I couldn’t do it’. I said, ‘Do me a favour, focus on settling your war. Don’t worry about that one’,” Trump said at the World Economic Forum.
Read More: Trump repeats claim of ‘stopping’ India-Pak war with new twist: ’11 expensive jets shot down’
India has repeatedly denied any third-party intervention.
Fact-checking Trump’s 8 wars claim
Trump often speaks about a long list of global disputes he claims to have resolved. Some of the conflicts Trump includes in his tally involve long-running disputes such as Israel–Hamas, Israel–Iran, Egypt–Ethiopia, India–Pakistan, Serbia–Kosovo, Rwanda–Congo, Armenia–Azerbaijan, and Cambodia–Thailand. But many of these situations remain unresolved, or have flared up again despite his involvement.
Only earlier this week, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet told Reuters that Thai forces are occupying Cambodian territory after fighting last year despite a peace accord brokered by Trump.
Armenia and Azerbaijan agreed to a US-hosted deal in August aimed at ending their decades-long dispute, yet neither country has signed a final peace treaty and their parliaments have not ratified anything.
Trump’s claims regarding India and Pakistan are also disputed.
Trump’s message to Iran
President Trump, meanwhile, urged Iran to strike a “meaningful” deal as a huge American military build-up takes shape in the Middle East.
“It’s proven to be over the years not easy to make a meaningful deal with Iran. We have to make a meaningful deal otherwise bad things happen,” Trump said on Thursday
He warned that Washington “may have to take it a step further” without any agreement, adding: “You’re going to be finding out over the next probably 10 days.”
(With inputs from Reuters)