Trump renews Nobel Peace Prize claim before committee announces 2026 winner

US President Donald Trump has renewed his claim that he deserves the Nobel Peace Prize, while acknowledging that he may not receive it. Speaking in the Oval Office on Wednesday, Trump said the Norwegian Nobel Committee had a reputation for not awarding the prize to “people like me”. The committee is due to announce the 2026 laureate on Friday.

Trump said his case rested on what he described as involvement in settling eight conflicts since returning to the White House last year. India Today quoted him as saying: “No president has probably ever settled any wars. I settled 8 wars.” He also suggested that another diplomatic breakthrough could be added to his record, although the report said there had been little visible progress towards a further ceasefire with Iran.

The South China Morning Post reported that Trump has referred to his role in conflicts 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. He has also cited the Abraham Accords, negotiated during his first administration, as part of his argument for receiving the award. Those claims have faced rebuttals and qualifications.

India’s foreign ministry rejected Trump’s assertion that the United States helped broker an India-Pakistan ceasefire, saying there had been no American intervention and that the understanding was reached directly by India and Pakistan. India Today reported that fact-checkers had also noted that some disputes Trump lists were not formally wars and that the US role differed substantially from one case to another. Trump’s account of his diplomatic record also contrasts with unresolved conflicts.

The South China Morning Post reported that fighting had resumed in some areas he says he helped stabilise, including the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Cambodia-Thailand border. It also noted that Russia’s war in Ukraine remains unresolved and that conflict involving Iran has continued after US-Israel strikes, with effects on energy supplies and fuel prices. The president said he had been honoured “indirectly” when Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado gave him her 2025 Nobel medal in January while seeking US support for her Venezuela efforts.

Leaders from Cambodia, Israel and Pakistan have said they nominated Trump, and Republican Representative Claudia Tenney nominated him in January, according to India Today. However, public claims of nomination do not establish that Trump is an official finalist or that the committee supports his candidacy. India Today reported that the committee keeps nomination information secret for 50 years and said 287 candidates were under consideration, including 208 individuals and 79 organisations.

The South China Morning Post listed Pope Leo, the International Criminal Court and the UN special rapporteur for the Palestinian territories among the favourites.