Trump says Pakistan 'really helped us' with Iran deal

United States President Donald Trump has said that Pakistan “really helped” Washington with the memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Iran.

He made the remarks during an interview with American news outlet Axios. During the interview, the US president was asked about which global leaders he “liked”.

In addition to Chinese President Xi Jinping, Chinese President Xi Jinping, Trump talked about Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, before mentioning Pakistan’s leadership.

“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 … He totally respects the prime minister. It’s a beautiful thing to see,” he said, talking about Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Chief of Defence Forces and Chief of Army Staff Field Marshal Asim Munir.

“But they really helped us with this deal. They knew the Iranians, they knew the people and they were good,” he said.

During the interview, Trump was also asked about the lessons he had learned about the “limits” on his power.

“There are no limits,” he said.

“I haven’t learned that lesson yet. I know there are, but there are no limits. We defeated them totally militarily. I was asked by Pakistan because they’re close to please not do anymore. I said, I like them a lot,” he said.

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.

The honour of announcing that the ‘Islamabad MoU’ had been ‘electronically’ signed by all parties, fittingly fell to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who put his signature to the historic document after US President Donald Trump and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, bringing it into effect two days earlier than previously expected.

Earlier in the day, Trump signed the document during a reception at the Palace of Versailles — also the venue for the landmark treaty that ended World War I — with French President Emmanuel Macron looking over his shoulder. Meanwhile, Iranian media released photos of Dr Pezeshkian signing the deal in his office. ...