Vance says US won't intervene in India-Pakistan conflict: ‘None of our business'
The remarks came during an interview with Fox News, where Vance said that the US would seek to de-escalate the conflict but could force neither side to 'lay down their arms.'
'What we can do is try to encourage these folks to de-escalate a little bit, but we're not going to get involved in the middle of war that's fundamentally none of our business and has nothing to do with America's ability to control it,' Vance said during the interview. As America could force neither side to lay down their arms, he continued, the US would 'continue to pursue this thing through diplomatic channels'.
'Our hope and our expectation is that this is not going to spiral into a broader regional war or, God forbid, a nuclear conflict,' Vance said. 'Right now, we don't think that's going to happen.'
The remarks match Donald Trump's 'America first' foreign policy of calling for a retreat from the US role as a mediator in foreign conflicts. Trump and Vance have both warned that the United States is willing to walk away from an attempt to broker a ceasefire in Russia's invasion of Ukraine if the two sides cannot be led to hold direct talks.
India on Thursday evening said that it had thwarted missile and drone strikes launched by Pakistan in what would mark the latest round of tit-for-tat attacks between the two countries. Indian missile strikes on Pakistan in the early hours of Wednesday killed 31 people. India claimed that it was targeting 'terrorist infrastructure', while Pakistan denied that any terrorist groups had been operating in the areas hit by Indian missiles.
As Vance signaled the US continued intent to take a diminished role in mediating conflicts abroad, secretary of state Marco Rubio spoke with leaders of both countries and called for an 'immediate de-escalation' in the fighting. The Iranian and Saudi foreign ministers also flew into Delhi on Thursday.
Vance, who has played a significant role in foreign policy in the new Trump administration, traveled to India last month, where he said that India could retaliate against 'terrorists' in Pakistan but said the US did not want that to spiral into a broader regional conflict.
'Our hope here is that India responds to this terrorist attack in a way that doesn't lead to a broader regional conflict,' Vance said, referring to a recent Islamist militant attack in Kashmir. 'And we hope, frankly, that Pakistan, to the extent that they're responsible, cooperates with India to make sure that the terrorists sometimes operating in their territory are hunted down and dealt with.'
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Daily Record
4 minutes ago
- Daily Record
Donald Trump goes golfing as major protests take place across Scotland
Mr Trump could be seen driving a golf buggy, flanked by a fleet of security personnel, as he played on the famous course which he bought in 2014. Protesters have insisted that Donald Trump is 'not welcome here' as the US president took to the golf course on the first full day of his visit to Scotland. Tight security around the Trump Turnberry course meant no demonstrators were seen when the president took to the greens on Saturday morning. Dressed in black, with a white cap that said USA on it, Mr Trump could be seen driving a golf buggy, flanked by a fleet of security personnel, as he played on the famous course which he bought in 2014. The outspoken Republican waved to journalists at one point, with hits including Billy Joel's Uptown Girl and Elaine Paige's rendition of Memory from the musical Cats heard playing from his entourage. But when asked about links to disgraced paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, the Simon and Garfunkel hit Bridge Over Troubled Water could be heard. However hundreds gathered in both Edinburgh and Aberdeen – near the site of Mr Trump's other Scottish golf resort – to make their opposition to the president known. As the visit got under way Scottish First Minister John Swinney – who is due to hold talks with the president later in the trip – announced public money to support a tournament at the Trump International golf links in Aberdeenshire. The 2025 Nexo Championship – previously known as the Scottish Championship – is set to take place there next month, supported by £180,000 of public funding. Mr Swinney said: 'The Scottish Government recognises the importance and benefits of golf and golf events, including boosting tourism and our economy.' But Scottish Green co-leader Patrick Harvie likened the awarding of public cash to the tournament to 'handing some pocket money to the school bully'. Mr Trump will head to his golf resort in Balmedie, Aberdeenshire later on in his five-day long private visit. 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Sniffer dogs were seen patrolling the golf course, with the Navy carrying out sweeps in the water beside the seaside course, while Army vehicles were spotted on the nearby A77 road. Police Scotland has asked for support from other forces across the UK to bolster officer numbers for the high profile visit – with Mr Swinney appealing to people to protest 'peacefully and within the law'. In Aberdeen Green north east Scotland MSP Maggie Chapman told the crowd of hundreds: 'We stand in solidarity not only against Trump but against everything he and his politics stand for.' Speaking about the US president, Ms Chapman said: 'He believes that climate change isn't real, he believes that cutting services for those in the world with the least is the right thing to do. We say no to all of those things, not in our name, never in our name.' Join the Daily Record WhatsApp community! Get the latest news sent straight to your messages by joining our WhatsApp community today. You'll receive daily updates on breaking news as well as the top headlines across Scotland. No one will be able to see who is signed up and no one can send messages except the Daily Record team. All you have to do is click here if you're on mobile, select 'Join Community' and you're in! If you're on a desktop, simply scan the QR code above with your phone and click 'Join Community'. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. To leave our community click on the name at the top of your screen and choose 'exit group'. If you're curious, you can read our Privacy Notice. With Mr Trump having last year been convicted by a New York jury of falsifying business records, she said the president was a 'convicted felon'. And she told the PA news agency: 'He is not welcome in Scotland, he is certainly not welcome in Aberdeenshire. We know that he is a convicted felon. 'We also know that all of the promises he has repeatedly made to Scotland have come to nothing, there hasn't been the development of jobs or houses that he promised when he opened his course in Aberdeenshire a few years ago.' Mr Harvie was also critical of the president, telling PA: 'He's attacking our renewables industry once again, one of the success stories of Scotland, and he is trying to attack and undermine it. 'And that is after having trashed part of our natural environment on the Aberdeenshire coast to build his golf resort.' Anita Bhadani was one of those who organised the Stop Trump Coalition protest outside the US Consulate General's office in Edinburgh. She told PA: 'We are really excited, across this whole weekend, there's so many campaign groups turning out in the streets, tacking in action in their communities or at rallies like this – it's kind of like a carnival of resistance.' She said Mr Trump's 'huge promises' of creating thousands of jobs through development around his Scottish golf courses had not come to pass. A number of speakers addressed the crowd, condemning President Trump, including one who chanted 'death to the IDF'.
Telegraph
5 minutes ago
- Telegraph
European leaders are disrupting Trump's golfing holiday at their peril
When president Donald Trump stepped off Air Force One on to Scottish soil, he had one thing on his mind. 'There's no place like Turnberry,' he told his travelling press pool beneath the wing of his presidential jet. His Ayrshire golf course, he continued, was 'the best … probably the best course in the world'. Minutes later, he climbed into the Beast – his armoured limousine - to travel 35 minutes along country lanes and through Scottish villages, lined with supporters, protesters, and the merely curious, to Turnberry. Mr Trump may be determined to have a break, but European leaders have other ideas. Willingly or otherwise, Mr Trump faces a string of meetings in the coming days as the Continent's power brokers sit down with the unpredictable president. For now, though, he is secure inside a ring of steel. The historic course, home to some of the most exciting Opens in history, has been locked down. It now sits inside an eight-foot fence, its fairways dotted with burly men in dark suits and earpieces. Snipers watch over the course from a watch tower. Police officers – some on quad bikes – patrol the famous course and the dunes that flank it. Mr Trump arrived with his golf clubs for four days at his two Scottish courses but without some of the trappings of a travelling American president. He travelled with a stripped-down retinue of aides. There was no chief of staff, director of communications, secretary of state or other cabinet ministers, who might be expected on an important foreign trip. His public weekend schedule showed no planned events. Instead, it was a chance to spend time at his golf course with his sons Eric, who manages the family businesses, and Don Jr. Officials insisted that this was a 'working trip' including a meeting with Sir Keir Starmer on Monday, although they were vague on agenda items. Yet all that changed shortly before Mr Trump flew out of Washington, when Ursula von der Leyen, European Commission president, announced on X that she would be meeting Mr Trump on Sunday as she closes in on a trade deal: Following a good call with @POTUS, we have agreed to meet in Scotland on Sunday to discuss transatlantic trade relations, and how we can keep them strong. — Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) July 25, 2025 EU members have drawn up a retaliatory hit list. The plan is to impose 30pc tariffs on bourbon whisky, yachts, soybeans and other American products if a deal cannot be reached by August 1 to lift US levies. Mrs von der Leyen had better tread carefully. A diplomat who has prepared ministers for meetings with Mr Trump said she was playing a high-risk game. 'Very dangerous,' they said. Mr Trump's chat with reporters at Glasgow Prestwick Airport showed a president relaxed and looking forward to four days of golf, but one who was quick to bristle when it came to policy and politics. Mr Trump left Washington bugged by the drip, drip, drip of headlines about his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, the billionaire paedophile who took his own life in a jail cell six years ago. He flashed irritation and lobbed sharp words at reporters who asked him how much he knew about the case on Friday, but relaxed as soon as he could talk about the love of his life: golf and the course at Turnberry. 'Sean Connery helped get me the permits,' he claimed after landing. 'If it weren't for Sean Connery, we wouldn't have those great courses.' There is a lesson for European leaders looking to muscle in on his tee times with their trade demands or for John Swinney, the Scottish First Minister, who is likely to tell Mr Trump that his tariffs are hurting the Scotch whisky industry. When the chat with reporters turned from golf to more substantial matters, he said he had a simple message for Europe. 'On immigration, you better get your act together,' he said in another flash of passion. 'You're not going to have Europe anymore... This immigration is killing Europe.' Anyone meeting with Mr Trump will remember the lessons of Volodymyr Zelensky's Oval Office row. The Ukrainian president was roundly chastised by Mr Trump and his vice president for daring to push back on the US position. And by hosting leaders at his Turnberry and Aberdeenshire courses, Mr Trump retains home advantage even while on foreign soil. Sir Keir may have got the memo. Mr Trump billed their meeting as little more than a chance to celebrate their recent trade deal. Although the Prime Minister does run the risk of upsetting Mr Trump over plans to raise the plight of civilians in Gaza, British officials played down the chances of any major diplomatic announcements. 'It's not like other meetings where we would go in with deliverables we planned to announce,' he said. On Saturday, all that was far from Mr Trump's mind. He spent the day golfing with son Eric, and his ambassador to London. The sound of Billy Joel's 'Uptown Girl' and 'Memories' from the musical Cats drifted out from the dunes on Saturday morning as Mr Trump's motorcade of golf buggies arrived at the fourth hole. Photographers huddled on a mound in the dunes, hoping to get a shot of the president on the course. Mr Trump, wearing a white USA cap and dressed in black, waved at the mound before teeing off in the direction of Turnberry lighthouse. Cheers from his baseball-cap-wearing entourage could be heard above the din of the speakers as the group wasted little time in rattling off their drives. A photographer camped in the dunes with a long lens later claimed to have witnessed the president cheat on the third fairway. He said Mr Trump had been handed a ball by a caddy, which he then dropped to the floor and pushed forward a little with an iron before taking a swing. The golf course has been surrounded by an eight-foot-high metal fence, while dozens of officers patrolled the entrances to the beach from Turnberry all the way down to Maidens, the next town along the coast. A temporary watchtower had been erected to monitor the Turnberry perimeter with a sniper rifle trained on the course below. A drone scanned from above, and police boats patrolled the coastal waters. Asked whether there would be a repeat of protesters taking to the beach in front of the golf club, an officer said the incident in 2018 had likely convinced the authorities to close off the entire beach to the public. Fears that the visit would be a magnet for protesters appeared unfounded. Matt Halliday, from Stranraer, said he had been driving around for two hours trying and failing to find protests to join. He said Mr Trump had 'stamped all over Scotland' with his grand golf resort plans, strong-arming local farmers and 'bullying' the council over wind farm plans. One of his signs bore a picture of the president with disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein. 'I think it is going to bring him down,' he said. However, supporters were easier to find than protesters. Two wearing red 'Make England Great Again' hats arrived shortly after the president had disappeared over the crest of a dune. 'We love Trump,' said Kay English, 37, wearing a face mask sporting the president's face. Tom English, a 38-year-old driver, said the pair had driven up from Liverpool last night to catch a glimpse of the president. 'We support Maga, Trump and what he is doing,' he told reporters, adding: 'I like the way he is, the way he speaks. It is comedy gold. 'He is putting the people first. He is trying to help the whole world to make peace - he is the president of peace.' Mr English said he would return on Sunday and hopefully get within 'shouting distance' to offer words of encouragement to the president and cheer on his cost-cutting Doge unit. He added: 'We love Doge, we are trying to get that here through Reform. There is so much being wasted.' Mr Trump has long blurred the line between family, business and public life. But any world leader intruding on his golfing getaway had better be ready for a possible sharp response.
Daily Mail
5 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Don Jr. and Bettina join Trump in Scotland as he golfs with Eric and MAGA lauds the president's Turnberry putt
President Donald Trump 's 'working trip' to his Scottish golf course has turned into a family affair, with Donald Trump, Jr. and his girlfriend Bettina Anderson joining the fun. The president included his younger son Eric in his golf foursome as he hit the links Saturday morning at his Turnberry golf course. That party also included the U.S. ambassador to the UK Warren Stephens and his son, according to the White House, ahead of Trump's scheduled meeting with British PM Keir Starmer. Video posted from Friday night on a pro-Trump X account gave a glimpse of the president celebrating two of his sons after Trump landed in the homeland of his mother, Mary Anne MacLeod. The video, captained as coming from inside Trump's private golf course on Scotland's western coast on a 'work weekend', features Trump asking is 'everybody good?' A crowd answers with a resounding cheer. The video shows Trump's two sons flanking him from behind, both tieless. Bettina, who started dating Trump Jr. in 2024, is standing to Don, Jr.'s left. At one point, she can be seen commenting to someone outside of the frame. The couple were also with Trump and first lady Melania Trump attending the FIFA Club World Cup event in New Jersey. The president has nominated Trump, Jr.'s ex fiancee, Kimberly Guilfoyle, to be the U.S. ambassador to Greece. She has gone through her Senate confirmation hearing. The Daily Mail has asked the White House for further information about which family members are accompanying Trump on the trip. None were seen traveling with him to Scotland aboard Air Force One. First lady Melania Trump is not expected on the golf-centered trip. Trump says Eric will be with him on Tuesday when he holds a ribbon-cutting event to open his new golf course in Aberdeenshire. Eric's wife Lara Trump had been considering a run for an open Senate seat in North Carolina after Trump clashed with Sen. Thom Tillis over his 'big, beautiful' bill. Days ago the president endorsed former Republican National Committee Chair Michael Whatley in the race. Whatley and Lara Trump helmed the organization together during the last election cycle. Trump's golf round with Eric was a success, based on the reception some of his supporters are giving to a short video clip online of the president nailing a putt. 'President Trump sinks the putt while playing golf in Scotland. America's swagger on the world stage is so back,' posted Republican operative Steve Guest, a former advisor to Texas Sen. Ted Cruz. Added conservative podcaster Benny Johnson: 'Insane aura.' A member of Trump's golf party then raises a fist, and another gives him a fist bump. It wasn't immediately clear what score the president got on the hole by sinking the putt, which appeared to be about six to eight feet. Also getting in the golf outing was White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, who flew to Scotland with Trump and a group of advisors aboard Air Force One. Her presence if the latest indication that she holds a place within Trump's inner circle. She has been one of Trump's primary defenders as the White House fields a series of difficult questions about the Jeffrey Epstein case.
