Washington: Pakistan’s army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, has sparked outrage by threatening India with “nuclear war” during a speech on American soil, warning that Islamabad would “take half the world down” if faced with an existential threat.
Speaking at a black-tie dinner in Tampa, Florida, hosted by businessman and honorary consul Adnan Asad, Munir declared, “We are a nuclear nation. If we think we are going down, we’ll take half the world down with us.” According to reports, these are the first nuclear threats ever issued from US soil against a third country.
Field Marshal Asim Munir is in Tampa, US to attend the US Central Command (CENTCOM) change of command ceremony.
This is his second trip to Washington in less than two months, signaling renewed US-Pakistan military engagement raising serious questions in New Delhi about Washington’s intentions in the region, especially amid rising trade tensions with India.
Munir also threatened to destroy any infrastructure India builds on Indus River channels, warning that such projects could cut Pakistan’s water supply. Referring to New Delhi’s decision to suspend the Indus Waters Treaty after the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack, he claimed the move could place 250 million Pakistanis at risk of starvation.
“We will wait for India to build a dam, and when it does so, phir 10 missile sey faarigh kar dengey (we will destroy it with 10 missiles)… The Indus River is not the Indians’ family property. Humein missilon ki kami nahin hai, al-hamdulillah (we have no shortage of missiles, praise be to God),” he reportedly said.
During his previous trip, he attended a White House luncheon with President Trump on June 18 and controversially suggested the US president for a Nobel Peace Prize, a proposal he repeated in Florida.
The Tampa event was attended by around 120 members of the Pakistani diaspora, with a reported ban on cellphones or digital devices. A representative from the Israel Defense Forces was also present.
Following the Pahalgam terrorist attack on April 22, 2025, in which 26 civilians were killed, tensions between India and Pakistan swiftly escalated into a serious military crisis.
India launched Operation Sindoor on May 7, 2025 carrying out missile and air strikes across nine terror bases in Pakistan and Pakistan occupied Kashmir.
The four-day conflict between nuclear -armed rivals witnessed military engagements including drone warfare, artillery exchanges, and retaliatory attacks.
