Source : INDIA TODAY NEWS
US President Donald Trump has made yet another pitch for the Nobel Peace Prize, which is one of countless such appeals over the years. This time, he did it from the White House while pointing out his record of settling 8 wars while hinting that another breakthrough could be on the way.
“I’ve done stuff that nobody else has ever done. I’m not bragging, I’m just telling you the facts,” Trump told reporters on Wednesday after returning to Washington from campaign appearances across the country. “No president has probably ever settled any wars. I settled 8 wars.”
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Hinting that his peacemaking efforts were not over, Trump said another conflict could soon be added to his list, even as there has been little visible progress towards another ceasefire with Iran.
The remarks were hardly a new Nobel pitch from Trump. While he has repeatedly argued that his diplomatic record makes him deserving of the Nobel Peace Prize, his claims about the number of wars he has ended have been challenged by fact-checkers, who note that several of the conflicts he cites were not formally wars and that the US role varied considerably from one dispute to another.
TRUMP HAS BEEN MAKING THE CASE FOR YEARS
The US President’s Nobel ambitions long before his second term.
During his first presidency, Trump repeatedly drew attention to his diplomatic efforts involving North Korea. In 2018, two Norwegian politicians said they had nominated him for the Nobel Peace Prize following his summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
A year later, Trump said Japan’s then-Prime Minister Shinzo Abe had nominated him for the prize because of his efforts to ease tensions with North Korea. Abe did not publicly confirm the nomination.
Trump continued to press his Nobel case during his 2020 re-election campaign, fervently insisting that he deserved the honour and contrasting his treatment with that of former President Barack Obama, who won the prize in 2009.
The subject returned with renewed force during Trump’s second term. In February 2025, while meeting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House, Trump openly complained about his chances of receiving the award.
“They will never give me a Nobel Peace Prize. It’s too bad. I deserve it, but they will never give it to me.”
‘I SHOULD HAVE GOTTEN IT FOUR OR 5 TIMES’
Much of Trump’s Nobel pitch rests on his claimed role in resolving conflicts.
He has repeatedly cited the US role in helping reduce tensions or reach agreements involving India and Pakistan, Israel and Iran, Cambodia and Thailand, Serbia and Kosovo, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt and Ethiopia, and Armenia and Azerbaijan.
In June 2025, Trump said he believed his record already justified multiple Nobel Peace Prizes.
“I should have gotten it four or five times,” he said.
Trump has also pointed to the Abraham Accords, the agreements brokered during his first administration that normalised relations between Israel and several Arab states, as another reason he believes he deserves the award.
But his claims have drawn direct rebuttals. India has rejected his assertion that the US helped broker the India-Pakistan ceasefire. The Ministry of External Affairs said there was “no American intervention” during Operation Sindoor and that the understanding to stop military action was reached directly between India and Pakistan.
That has not stopped Trump from repeatedly returning to the argument.
TRUMP’S NOBEL PITCH ISN’T A SOLO ACT
Trump has not relied only on his own claims of being worthy of the prize. Allies and foreign leaders have also backed his candidacy. Republican Representative Claudia Tenney nominated Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize for the third time in January 2026. She cited his role in the Abraham Accords and what she described as his efforts to settle multiple international conflicts.
The leaders of Israel, Pakistan and Cambodia have also nominated Trump for the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize.
However, there is an important distinction between publicly announced nominations and the official Nobel process.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee does not publicly confirm individual nominations. Under Nobel rules, information about nominees is kept secret for 50 years. The committee said 287 candidates were under consideration for the 2026 Peace Prize, including 208 individuals and 79 organisations.
Being nominated also does not mean that a candidate has been endorsed by the committee or is among the finalists.
HIS NOBEL CAMPAIGN EVEN ENTERED A NORWAY DISPUTE
By January 2026, Trump’s frustration over the elusive prize had spilled into a dispute.
After a dispute with Norway over his push to take control of Greenland, Trump sent a message to Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store complaining that Norway had not awarded him the Nobel Peace Prize for what he described as stopping eight wars.
Trump wrote that because Norway had not given him the prize, he no longer felt obliged to “think purely of Peace”.
Store subsequently made clear that the Norwegian government does not decide who receives the Nobel Peace Prize. The award is selected by the independent Norwegian Nobel Committee.
Taking another unexpected turn, Trump’s Nobel pursuit crossed paths with Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado’s 2025 Peace Prize win. Machado, who was awarded the prize for her work in promoting democratic rights in Venezuela, later met Trump at the White House. During the meeting, she handed him her Nobel medal, giving Trump a tangible connection to an award he has repeatedly said he deserved.
The gesture drew fresh attention to Trump’s long-running Nobel campaign. But while Machado could give Trump her medal as a personal gesture, the Nobel Peace Prize itself remained hers. The Norwegian Nobel Committee has made clear that the award cannot be transferred, shared or revoked.
IRAN WAR COMPLICATES TRUMP’S PITCH
Trump’s latest Nobel push also comes at a complicated moment for his foreign policy.
While he has presented himself as a peacemaker and repeatedly highlighted conflicts he says he helped settle, his administration remains involved in a major confrontation with Iran. News agency Reuters reported earlier this month that experts believed Trump was unlikely to receive the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize, particularly given the ongoing conflict with Iran. The winner is due to be announced on Friday.
However, that does not appear to have discouraged Trump from making his case.
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SOURCE :- TIMES OF INDIA
