Donald Trump has renewed his public campaign for the Nobel Peace Prize just days before the committee announces its 2025 winner.
The president, 78, told reporters at the White House on Wednesday that he has “settled 8 wars” and saved millions of lives through his Iran diplomacy, though he conceded the Norwegian Nobel Committee may not share his assessment. Trump said he does not know what the five-strong judging body’s decision will be, adding that “they have a reputation for maybe not giving it to people like me.”
His remarks come eight months after Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado gave him her 2025 Nobel Peace Prize medal during a January visit. Trump said Machado told him at the time that “nobody in history deserves it more than President Trump.” He described that handover as an indirect honor from the prize itself.
Since returning to the White House last year, Trump has repeatedly claimed he merits the accolade for presidential diplomacy. He pointed specifically to his efforts to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon, stating they had “stopped maybe the total obliteration of the world.”
The timeline of Trump’s prize pursuit stretches back through his second term. Leaders from Cambodia, Israel and Pakistan have publicly said they nominated him, though the Nobel process keeps nominations sealed for 50 years, leaving no way to verify those claims.
Some of the conflicts Trump says he helped resolve remain active. Fighting has flared in the Democratic Republic of Congo and along the Cambodia-Thailand border, and parties to several disputes dispute his diplomatic role. Meanwhile, US-Israel strikes on Iran have fueled a seven-month conflict that has upended global energy supplies and driven domestic gas prices upward.
Trump’s promise to end Russia’s war in Ukraine on his first day back in office has also gone unfulfilled.
If the committee selects him, he would become the fifth US president to win, joining Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Jimmy Carter and Barack Obama. But betting markets and expert observers have largely dismissed his chances.
Pope Leo has emerged as a leading contender. The pontiff has continued speaking against war after Trump called him “weak” for criticizing the US-Iran conflict. Karim Haggag, director of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, said of the pope: “He has emerged as a leading thought leader.”
Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur for the Palestinian Territories, is also favored after facing US and Israeli criticism for her condemnations of Israel’s Gaza war conduct and West Bank occupation.
Haakon Gjerloew, acting director of the Peace Research Institute Oslo, predicted the Machado episode would weigh on the committee’s deliberations. “I think last year’s events around the Nobel Peace Prize, Maria Corina Machado giving it to Trump afterwards, will affect some of the considerations that they make,” he said.
Oeivind Stenersen, a historian and Nobel Peace Prize expert, said the committee faces pressure to make a statement about Trump’s diplomatic approach. “In this serious international situation, this year calls for a Peace Prize in defence of liberal democracy, international law and human rights,” he stated.
The 2025 Nobel Peace Prize winner is scheduled to be announced in Oslo on Friday.