As the Nobel Peace Prize announcement approaches, US President Donald Trump has criticized the award given to his predecessor, Barack Obama, claiming that Obama received the honor for “doing nothing,” while he himself has ended eight wars.
The 2025 Nobel Peace Prize will be announced at 2:30 p.m. (IST) on Friday in Oslo.
Trump, who was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by Pakistan after purportedly brokering peace between India and Pakistan in May, has been publicly campaigning for the award. He has consistently argued that he deserves the prize for resolving and ending multiple conflicts, including the recent conflict between India and Pakistan. However, New Delhi has never acknowledged his involvement in de-escalating the situation.
Most recently, Trump brokered a peace agreement between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, with both parties agreeing to the first phase of the peace deal.
Speaking to reporters at the White House on Thursday, Trump disparaged Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize win, stating: “He got it for doing nothing. Obama got a prize – he didn’t even know what – he got elected, and they gave it to Obama for doing absolutely nothing but destroying our country,” he said.
Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2009 for “his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples.”
Trump held a Cabinet meeting at the White House, a day after announcing that the “first phase” of the Gaza ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas would begin soon.
At the meeting, Trump emphasized his administration’s role in addressing global conflicts, claiming that his presidency has ended seven wars. He referred to the signing of the Gaza ceasefire deal as “number eight.” He also remarked:
“We settled seven wars, or major conflicts, but wars. And this is number eight. And the one that I thought would be maybe the quickest of all would be Russia-Ukraine. I think that’s going to happen, too. But in the meantime, they’re losing about 7,000 people a week, and that seems pretty bad…That war should never have happened. It would have never happened if I were President.”
The US President credited himself for ending the wars that existed for 31 or 36 years and listed the conflicts he claims to have brought to a close, citing Cambodia, Thailand, Serbia, Congo, Rwanda, Pakistan and India, Israel and Iran, Egypt and Ethiopia, and Armenia and Azerbaijan.