WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump has said that Pakistan ‘really helped’ Washington in securing a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Tehran, crediting its leadership for facilitating the diplomatic process.
Speaking in an interview with American media outlet Axios, Trump said he was asked about world leaders he admired, during which he mentioned Pakistan alongside China and India.
“In Pakistan, you have the field marshal, who is great, Munir, he’s great. And you have the prime minister, and they just get along great,” Trump said, referring to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Chief of Defence Forces and Chief of Army Staff Field Marshal Asim Munir.
He added that Pakistan had played an important behind-the-scenes role in supporting the understanding with Iran. “They really helped us with this deal. They knew the Iranians, they knew the people and they were good,” he said.
Trump further remarked that Pakistan’s leadership had urged restraint during regional tensions and described their engagement as constructive.
Trump also repeated his claim that ‘there are no limits’ to his authority in certain situations, while reflecting on his foreign policy decisions involving military and diplomatic interventions.
Talking about last year’s military conflict with India, he said, “You know, I stopped Pakistan from fighting India, two nuclear nations, and the prime minister of Pakistan said, ‘President Trump saved 50 million lives’. They were going to use nuclear weapons.
“Eleven planes were shot down. They were at it. And I was hearing about it, then I saw some really terrible pictures. They were going at it, Pakistan and India. They have gone at it in the past, but this was, and they’re both nuclear-armed, heavily, and they were going to use those nuclear weapons. And the prime minister of Pakistan said, ‘Donald Trump saved 50 million lives’. But it’s not 50. I think it was much more than that. Fifty is nothing when you look at 1.5 billion people just in India alone. So I think that there are no limits,” he said.
“We have the most powerful military in the world by far. Who else could have done a blockade like that? I did a naval blockade where not one ship was able to get through. Some tried. They didn’t, you know, it didn’t last very long,” he said.
It is worth mentioning that the US president has repeatedly commented on the brief military conflict between Pakistan and India in May 2025. He has also praised PM Shehbaz and CDF Munir on several occasions, specifically calling the latter a “highly respected general”, a “great fighter” and “my favourite”.
Thursday proved to be a red-letter day for Pakistan, as the country awoke to news of a long-awaited peace deal finally being signed between the US and Iran, heralding an end to the bitter animosity that has afflicted the Middle East and plunged the world into crisis for months.
