India’s External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar has dropped a startling claim: U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance personally warned Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the night of May 9 that Pakistan planned a “very massive assault” on India unless New Delhi agreed to certain conditions. Jaishankar, speaking during a sideline interview at the Quad Foreign Ministers meeting, insisted, “I was in the room when the U.S. vice president spoke to the prime minister… warning that the Pakistanis would launch a very massive assault on India if we did not accept certain things.” He confirmed that Pakistan did indeed launch an attack that night—as predicted .
This claim adds explosive context to the April 22 Pahalgam attack, which India immediately blamed on militants with alleged support from Pakistan. That attack triggered a dangerous escalation: India undertook preemptive strikes in Pakistan-administered areas on May 7 under Operation Sindoor, after which Islamabad retaliated swiftly. The resulting three-day conflict, both nations’ first drone and missile face-off, concluded with a ceasefire brokered by the U.S. on May 10 .
Jaishankar’s statement not only outlines a war room-level briefing inside the Indian government, but it also signifies the heightened stakes of nuclear-armed confrontation. His remarks contradict past signals from the Indian Ministry of External Affairs, which had claimed Pakistan was only warned after hostilities began. Jaishankar’s version underscores the gravity of Pakistan’s threat and India’s firm strategic resolve .
India emphasized that despite the nuclear context, it would not bow to “nuclear blackmail” or allow terror threats to go unchecked. Jaishankar stressed that the Modi government responded decisively: diplomatic ties were downgraded, water treaties suspended, border crossings sealed, and militant networks targeted in both military and diplomatic arenas—anchoring India’s refusal to be deterred .
Pakistan continues to deny direct involvement in the Pahalgam incident and accuses India of blaming it without evidence. It maintains that the cross-border exchange was a disproportionate response, though it later participated in the U.S.-mediated ceasefire .
Why This Revelation Matters
This disclosure completely reframes the narrative of May’s border crisis—showing that India was not only anticipating hostile action but had informed backing from the U.S. as it prepared its response. That level of coordination signals deeper strategic alignment between Washington and New Delhi, and serves as a warning to Islamabad.
It also puts fresh pressure on global mediation efforts, spotlighting how close the two nuclear states came to outright war—and how last-minute diplomacy, backed by credible threat intelligence, was instrumental in defusing a crisis.
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