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India pushed back against US President's offer to mediate India-Pakistan conflict and his claim that he used trade to prevent a "nuclear war" between India and Pakistan, the Hindustan Times reported Wednesday. 

India had a long-standing national position that any issue pertaining to the Union Territory would be addressed by India and Pakistan bilaterally, Times of India reported, citing India's Ministry of External Affairs (MEA). 

Indian envoy to Singapore Shilpak Ambule had earlier rejected US calls for mediation in Kashmir dispute. "For us, Kashmir is a bilateral issue, not an international issue," Ambule told Bloomberg TV on Monday.

Indian MEA also rejected US President Donald Trump's claim that he had threatened to stop trade with India and Pakistan to get them agree to a "ceasefire," per the report titled "Finally, India makes it official: Trump didn't broker India-Pakistan ceasefire."

Trump said his administration had helped to avert a nuclear war between India and Pakistan, and that the promise of trade was the big driver in ending the recent hostilities, Newsweek reported on Monday.

"I said, come on, we're going to do a lot of trade with you guys. Let's stop it. Let's stop it. If you stop it, we'll do a trade. If you don't stop it, we're not going to do any trade,'" Trump told reporters in White House on Monday, according to video clip by PBS News. 

"And all of a sudden, they said, I think we're going to stop," Trump said, "For a lot of reasons, but trade is a big one," he said, per the video.

Times of India quoted MEA as saying that from Operation Sindoor started on May 7 to the ceasefire on May 10, "there were conversations between Indian and US leaders on the evolving military situation. The issue of trade did not come up in any of these discussions."

India's military action was entirely in the conventional domain, Indian government said in response to claim that the current US administration had averted a nuclear war, Times of India reported.

Pakistan has, on the other hand, appreciated the US' role. Prime Minister Shehbaz thanked Trump for his "leadership and proactive role" for peace in the region on Saturday soon after the ceasefire was announced.

"Pakistan appreciates the US for facilitating this outcome, which we have accepted in the interest of regional peace and stability," PM Shehbaz said in a post on X.

Global Times