Why Donald Trump believes he 'deserves the Nobel Peace Prize'

Donald Trump's efforts to end the war in Ukraine have reignited his campaign for a Nobel Peace Prize.

When he met President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and other European leaders at the White House on 18 August, he claimed: "I've ended six wars" - telling reporters the following day he had, in fact, resolved seven. The US president has made "no secret that he would love nothing more" than winning the prestigious accolade, experts tell Sky News, with suggestions he is a worthy candidate stretching back to his first term.

Trump's Nobel campaign 2019 In February 2019, Mr Trump claimed Japan's then Prime Minister Shinzo Abe had nominated him following his 2018 summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, where they discussed the country's nuclear weapons programme. Speaking at the White House, he claimed Mr Abe had given him "the most beautiful copy of a letter that he sent to the people who give out a thing called the Nobel Prize".

He claimed Mr Abe had told him: "I have nominated you," to which Mr Trump replied: "Thank you. Many other people feel that way too.

I'll probably never get it. But that's okay." The president went on to reference his predecessor Barack Obama winning the prize in 2009.

"They gave it to Obama. He didn't even know what he got it for.

He was there for about 15 seconds and he got the Nobel Prize," he said. "With me, I probably will never get it." Mr Obama won the prize just nine months into his presidency for "extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples".

In his acceptance speech, he acknowledged the controversy around it, saying: "Compared to some of the giants of history who've received this prize - Schweitzer and King; Marshall and Mandela - my accomplishments are slight." In late 2019, ahead of a meeting with Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan, Mr Trump told reporters he "would get a Nobel Prize for a lot of things, if they give it out fairly, which they don't". 2020 In January 2020, he complained he should have won it instead of Ethiopia's Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali, who oversaw his country signing a peace deal in its border conflict with Eritrea.

Referencing his own involvement in the peace talks, which were largely led by Saudi Arabia, Mr Trump told an election rally in Ohio: "I'm going to tell you about the Nobel Peace Prize, I'll tell you about that. I made a deal, I saved a country, and I just heard that the head of that country is now getting the Nobel Peace Prize for saving the country.

"But you know, that's the way it is. As long as we know, that's all that matters...

I saved a big war, I've saved a couple of them." 2024 At another rally ahead of his second election win in 2024, he told supporters in Detroit: "If I were named Obama I would have had the Nobel Prize given to me in 10 seconds." 2025 In February this year, during a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House, he said: "They will never give me a Nobel Peace Prize. I deserve it, but they will never give it to me." And on 18 August, during his summit with Ukrainian and European leaders, he said: "If you look at the six deals I settled this year, they were all at war.

I didn't do any ceasefires." On 19 August, he corrected himself, telling Fox News: "We ended seven wars." His team has also added to calls for him being awarded the prize, with his press secretary Karoline Leavitt mentioning it at several White House briefings, describing him as the "peace president" and saying it is "well past time". Which seven wars does Trump claim to have ended? After his claims of "ending seven wars" amid Ukraine talks in Washington, the White House released the list of conflicts the president was referring to - six during his second term and one in his first.

Armenia and Azerbaijan The two nations have been engaged in nearly 40 years of conflict over the disputed status of Nagorno-Karabakh. Most recently, serious fighting broke out in September 2023 when Azerbaijan seized the area, which has been home to ethnic Armenians since pre-Soviet times.

But on 8 August this year, a peace agreement between the two sides was announced at the White House, which saw both leaders nominate Mr Trump for the Nobel prize. Read moreTrump's approach to peacemaking is war vs doing business Of all of the Trump peace claims, this is among the most legitimate, Dr Theo Zenou, research fellow at the Henry Jackson Society, tells Sky News.

"Credit where credit is due: brokering a peace agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan is a genuine achievement," he says. Describing it as an "important symbol of progress.