From Cambodia to Iran: The six (or seven) wars Trump claims to have ended in six months

“I’ve solved six wars in six months.” That was U.S. President Donald Trump’s response to criticism of his role as mediator between Russia and Ukraine, just hours before receiving Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskiy and a delegation of European heads of state on Monday at the White House.

It is also a claim that has become increasingly common in the Republican’s messages from the Oval Office, in statements to the press, and in his posts on Truth Social, his social network. In the midst of coverage of the summit — a decisive moment in efforts to achieve peace — two questions arose among several journalists: What are the conflicts that Trump has claimed to have ended? And how much truth is there in his words?

The news site Axios sent the White House a list of conflicts to confirm whether these were the wars Trump was referring to. The reply from a spokesperson surprised them. They were not six, but seven wars that the president supposedly had resolved. Yet after reviewing the list, they were left with more doubts than answers. The Republican counts among his achievements agreements reached during his first term, fragile truces in still-active conflicts, and even claims credit for mediations that one of the parties disputes.

The list sent by the White House includes the conflicts between Armenia and Azerbaijan, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda, Israel and Iran, India and Pakistan, Cambodia and Thailand, Egypt and Ethiopia, and Serbia and Kosovo. “I’m averaging about a war a month,” Trump boasted in July, when he presented the ceasefire between Cambodia and Thailand as a success of his foreign policy.

But this average is far from accurate. Mediation in the conflicts between Egypt and Ethiopia, and between Serbia and Kosovo, dates back to his first presidency (2017–2021). And in the first case — supposedly a conflict between the two African countries — there was no peace agreement at all, because it was not even a war but tensions over the construction of a dam on the Nile River. Trump, in fact, tried to convince the Ethiopian government to reach a deal in 2020, but Addis Ababa walked away from the negotiations.

As for Serbia and Kosovo, both sides signed a partial peace agreement in Washington in 2020 following Kosovo’s unilateral declaration of independence in 2008, but tensions remain high. NATO urged both parties to normalize their relations this March. “To move this dialogue forward, both sides must show flexibility, make the necessary compromises, and focus on the long-term gains,” said NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte.

In his second term, which began in January this year, the Republican has focused on influencing various conflicts as a demonstration of Washington’s strength on the international stage. “American leadership is back under President Trump,” read the statement released by the White House after the meeting with Zelenskiy, which also highlighted the president’s “unrelenting commitment” to peace before moving on to a series of praises from the visiting European dignitaries. It is a clear example of how the U.S. president wants to be seen by others — and one of the driving forces behind his obsession with winning the Nobel Peace Prize.

“Peacemaker in Chief”

“Once again, President Trump has proven to be the peacemaker-in-chief,” said Derrick Van Orden, Republican congressman from Wisconsin, congratulating the president on the ceasefire between Iran and Israel at the end of last June. It was one of the cases in which the president’s efforts were overshadowed by the methods he used to achieve peace. The so-called Twelve-Day War ended after Trump announced a ceasefire following U.S. bombings of three Iranian nuclear facilities.

Trump has also used tariffs as a tool in negotiating peace. When hostilities broke out between Cambodia and Thailand, the president said he would not negotiate a reduction in tariffs until both sides ended the conflict. “I am proud to be the president of peace,” Trump declared after announcing a ceasefire on July 28. The ceasefire proved fragile just two days after the presidents of both countries posed together in Malaysia shaking hands, and China last week called on its neighbors to find a permanent solution to their border disputes.

That sense of fragility in the ceasefires reached has also become evident in the conflict between the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda. After signing a peace agreement in June at the White House, the Congolese army and the rebel group M23, backed by Rwanda, have accused each other of failing to respect the pact, according to Axios.

In other cases, doubts have been raised as to whether Trump’s involvement was decisive in halting hostilities that broke out last May between India and Pakistan, two nuclear powers. “There was no [...] U.S. mediation between India and Pakistan,” declared Indian Foreign Minister Vikram Misri in mid-June. Barely a month earlier, Trump had claimed on Truth Social that a ceasefire was reached “after a long night of talks mediated by the United States.”

In other cases, doubts have been raised about whether Trump’s involvement was decisive in halting the hostilities that erupted last May between the two nuclear powers. “There was no US mediation between India and Pakistan,” Indian Foreign Minister Vikram Misri stated in mid-June. Just a month earlier, Trump said on Truth or Dare that a truce had been reached “after a long night of U.S.-mediated dialogue.”

A week before traveling to Alaska to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin last Friday, Trump met at the White House the leaders of Armenia, Nikol Pashinyan, and Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, to sign a preliminary peace deal to end a long-running territorial conflict that has resulted in more than three decades of clashes. Pashinyan said the American “deserves the Nobel,” and Aliyev assured that the Republican had brought “peace to the Caucasus.” But once again, doubts are growing over how effective the agreement will be in ending the conflict, while Iran and Russia have opposed it, fearing that it could upset the geopolitical balance in the region.

Nobel campaign

“I’ve negotiated five wars to their end,” Trump said in an interview with Fox News after the summit with Putin. “I have seven,” host Sean Hannity interrupted. The president explained that he didn’t think it was necessary to include the “decimation of [Iran’s] nuclear arsenal” among his diplomatic efforts.

On Thursday, Dagens Naeringsliv, Norway’s most influential financial daily, reported that Trump called Jens Stoltenberg, the former Norwegian prime minister, current finance minister, and former NATO secretary general, a month ago. “He wanted the Nobel Prize and to talk about tariffs,” the newspaper reported, citing anonymous sources. Stoltenberg confirmed he spoke with Trump, though he said the call focused on tariffs and the trade relationship between the two countries. “I will not go into further detail about the content of the conversation,” he said in a statement to Reuters. A White House spokesperson confirmed the call took place, but did not confirm that the prize was discussed.

Every year, a five-member Norwegian committee evaluates the Nobel Peace Prize nominations and selects the winners. “No, I won’t get a Nobel Peace Prize no matter what I do, including Russia/Ukraine, and Israel/Iran, whatever those outcomes may be, but the people know, and that’s all that matters to me!” Trump said on social media in June.

“Give Trump the Nobel! And an Emmy. And an Oscar,” journalist Frank Bruni quipped in an op-ed in The New York Times. The Nobel Peace Prize is traditionally presented on December 10.

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