Trump reasserts Nobel Peace Prize claim as awards are announced, says he has settled eight wars

The Nobel Committee has begun announcing the 2026 Nobel Prizes, stirring activity in international politics. Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump has once again staked his claim to the Nobel Peace Prize, citing his diplomatic successes in establishing peace around the world.

Speaking to reporters at the White House, Trump said he had ended many of the world's major conflicts and tensions, and was therefore a true contender for the honour. "I have done things that no president before me has ever done. I am not boasting, I am just stating the truth. Perhaps no president has ever settled even one war, but I have so far settled a total of eight wars and international disputes," Trump said.

Referring to the Nobel awarded to former President Barack Obama in 2009, Trump took aim at him. He said he still did not know why Obama had received the prize, while he himself had done big work for peace. "No one in the history of the Nobel has deserved it more than me. I settled eight wars. I stopped the world from being completely destroyed," Trump said.

On the military tension between the United States and Iran, Trump claimed that the Iran issue was on its way to being resolved soon. "Our main aim was to stop Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon, and we have completely eliminated its nuclear capability. Iran's military is now completely weakened, and this war will end as soon as possible," he said. Trump added that crude oil prices in the global market would fall sharply as soon as the war ended.

However, international fact-checkers and political analysts are questioning Trump's claim of "ending eight wars". According to analysts, many of the cases he named were not formal military wars but only diplomatic tensions. Opinions also differ on the US role, and the success it achieved, in the Serbia-Kosovo dispute and in conflicts in the Middle East.

At the press conference, Trump was also asked about a suspicious incident at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute in Siberia, Russia. A 28-year-old woman employee of the institute, Darya Shipalova, died mysteriously of pneumonia. More than 200 people who had come into contact with her were placed under medical observation. The incident had raised concern worldwide about the threat of plague and about bioweapons.

Asked whether the incident could be linked to a Russian bioweapons test or an accident, Trump said, "Teams of American experts and health agencies are watching this closely right now. Russian officials have said the situation is fully under control. We do not think this is a bioweapon or an accident connected with a bioweapon." Trump made clear that the US health agency CDC and the World Health Organization (WHO) were reviewing the matter and that the United States faced no direct threat from it.