FACT CHECK: Trump Misquoted in Pakistan Prime Minister’s ‘Death’ Claim

Claim: Several Indian media outlets reported that US President Donald Trump said Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif “would have died” if not for his intervention during the May 2025 India-Pakistan conflict.

Claimed By:

India Today, The Economic Times, The Indian Express, ThePrint, and ANI

Fact Check Verdict: False

What Was Reported

Multiple Indian mainstream outlets claimed that US President Donald Trump said Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif “would have died” if not for his intervention during the May 2025 India-Pakistan conflict, which was referred to as “Op Sindoor” in some reports.

The Economic Times also circulated an AI-generated graphic quoting Trump as saying:

“Pakistan PM would have died if it wasn’t for me: Trump on India-Pak War”

The quote was widely shared across social media platforms.

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What Trump Actually Said in the State of the Union

Trump delivered his State of the Union address on February 25, 2026, before a joint session of the US Congress.

A review of the full address shows that Trump did not say that Shehbaz Sharif would have died.

Instead, Trump stated that the Pakistani prime minister told him that millions of people would have died if the conflict had escalated into a nuclear war.

At around the 1:31:49 timestamp of the live broadcast, Trump said:

“My first 10 months, I ended eight wars, including Cambodia, isn’t it funny? Sick people… Cambodia and Thailand… Pakistan and India would’ve been a nuclear war … 35 billion people, said the Prime Minister of Pakistan, would’ve died if it were not for my involvement.”

While Trump used the phrase “35 billion people”- likely a verbal exaggeration or misstatement he clearly attributed the potential deaths to the population at large, not to Sharif personally.

There is no mention in the speech of the Pakistan prime minister himself dying.

Similar Remarks at Board of Peace Event

During a February 19, 2026, address at a “Board of Peace” event, Trump repeated a similar claim about preventing large-scale casualties.

He said:

“He (the Pakistan prime minister) said in front of our Chief of Staff that President Trump saved 25 million lives when he stopped the war between us and India.”

Again, Trump referred to lives allegedly saved in a broader sense, not to Sharif’s personal survival.

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How the Misreporting Happened

The misleading narrative appears to have stemmed from:

• Misinterpretation of Trump’s phrasing
• Amplification of an AI-generated quote graphic
• Headline exaggeration that altered the meaning of his remarks

The original statement referred to potential mass casualties in the event of a nuclear escalation between India and Pakistan, not the death of the Pakistani prime minister.

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Collage photo of Pakistan’s PM Shehbaz Sharif and the Economy Times AI-generated quote
PHOTO/File