Trump says Pakistan helped Washington with Iran agreement

ISLAMABAD: United States President Donald Trump has said Pakistan played a helpful role in Washington’s memorandum of understanding with Iran, according to remarks he made in an interview with Axios.

When asked which world leaders he liked, Trump mentioned Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi before referring to Pakistan’s leadership. Speaking about Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Chief of Army Staff and Chief of Defence Staff Field Marshal Asim Munir, he said Pakistan’s civilian and military leaders had a strong working relationship and added that the country had assisted the United States in its contacts linked to Iran.

Trump said Pakistan had familiarity with Iran and people involved in the process. He described Field Marshal Munir in positive terms and also spoke favourably about the relationship between Munir and Prime Minister Shehbaz.

"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 then added:

"But they really helped us with this deal. They knew the Iranians, they knew the people and they were good,"

Remarks on conflict with India

During the same interview, Trump was also asked what he had learned about limits on his power. In response, he said he had not yet learned that lesson, while also asserting that limits did not apply in the way suggested. In that context, he referred to last year’s military conflict between Pakistan and India and said Pakistan had asked him not to take further action because of its closeness with Washington.

"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,"

Trump also repeated his claim that he had intervened to stop Pakistan and India from continuing a confrontation between two nuclear-armed states. He said Pakistan’s prime minister had told him that he had saved 50 million lives, though Trump said he believed the figure was even higher.

“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.

He also said the United States had the world’s most powerful military and referred to what he described as a naval blockade.

“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.

Iran agreement and recent praise for Pakistani leaders

Trump has repeatedly spoken about the brief Pakistan-India military conflict in May 2025. The publication said he has also praised Prime Minister Shehbaz and Field Marshal Munir on several occasions, including describing the army chief as a highly respected general, a great fighter and his favourite.

The same report said Pakistan on Thursday woke up to news that a peace deal between the United States and Iran had been signed. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif announced that the Islamabad MoU had been electronically signed by all parties and that he signed the document after Trump and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, bringing it into effect two days earlier than expected.

Trump signed the document earlier in the day during a reception at the Palace of Versailles, with French President Emmanuel Macron present. Iranian media, it added, released photographs showing Pezeshkian signing the agreement in his office.