President Donald Trump said he had “settled eight wars” at a New York rally Friday, though five of the eight items he cited were nonexistent wars or conflicts that hadn’t ended or had resumed. His claim followed the Nobel Peace Prize award to South African jurist Navi Pillay. Trump said the prize should have gone to “the United States of America, represented by me as your president.”
He described the supposed settlements as evidence that he and the United States had been wronged. “We should have had eight Nobel Prizes, for each war,” he said. Trump repeated the complaint in a nearly 600-word social media post after the rally, then again Saturday morning.
Conflicts Still Unresolved
Egypt and Ethiopia never fought a war over the major Ethiopian dam project that Egypt opposes. Instead, the countries have had a long-running diplomatic dispute, and their relations remain tense. Trump also listed a supposed situation between Kosovo and Serbia, though the two weren’t at war during his presidency. He didn’t explain the reference in either his rally speech or his social media post.
Trump said he settled a war between Rwanda and “the Democrat Republic of the Congo.” The war involving Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo hasn’t ended. The Trump administration brokered a peace agreement last year, but the M23 rebel group didn’t sign it.
Trump also claimed he had settled the Israel-Hamas war. Israel has continued frequent attacks in Gaza, saying it is targeting Hamas, in the year since the October 2025 ceasefire, in which the Trump administration played a key role.
He claimed to have settled the June 2025 Israel-Iran conflict before Israel joined the Trump-led United States in going to war with Iran in February 2026. Discussing the conflict Friday, Trump said, “Israel and Iran – in a sense, because Iran is – we've wiped out their nuclear capacity, totally wiped it out.”
Deals, Disputes and U.S. Power
Three items on Trump’s list looked more solid, though people could reasonably debate his role and that of his broader administration. Leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan credited Trump with involvement in a significant deal last year that moved the countries toward ending their prolonged Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
Some experts said Trump played a significant role in securing a ceasefire in a July 2025 border conflict between Thailand and Cambodia. Clashes flared again in December before another truce. Pakistan’s prime minister has enthusiastically highlighted Trump’s role in ending a deadly 2025 conflict with India, while India’s government has denied Trump was a factor.
“I did eight (wars). No president's ever done any,” Trump said, disregarding wars other U.S. presidents settled by winning them or brokering peace agreements. Theodore Roosevelt won the Nobel in 1906 for his role in an agreement ending a war between the Russian and Japanese empires.
Trump also said, “And I also, by the way, got Greenland. I hope you're happy about that.” He secured a new U.S. agreement with Denmark that modestly expands U.S. rights in Greenland, but the territory remains under Danish sovereignty.
Promises and Military Claims
Trump claimed he had prevented Iran from destroying Israel, the Middle East, Europe and possibly part of the United States before the U.S. “obliterated” Iran. The account said there was no proof Iran had planned, or could realistically have achieved, that destruction.
In his speech and social media post, Trump said he was “about to settle” the Russia-Ukraine war and described a possible resolution, along with one to the Iran war, as “happening at breakneck speed.” During his 2024 campaign, he promised to end the Russia-Ukraine war either as president-elect or within 24 hours of returning to office. January 2025 was more than 20 months before the report.