President Donald Trump, while speaking at the UN General Assembly in New York on September 23, declared that “everyone says that I should get the Nobel Peace Prize.” He criticized the UN, saying, “All they seem to do is write a really strongly worded letter and then never follow that letter up. It’s empty words, and empty words don’t solve war. The only thing that solves war and wars is action.”
He also reaffirmed his claim to have “ended seven wars” during his presidency. The US State Department posted on X, calling him the “president of peace,” a stance that has been echoed by White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, who also claimed that Trump had ended these wars in seven months.
However, Trump’s claims of ending seven wars demand some scrutiny. It should be noted here that the UN has successfully helped end several civil wars in Namibia, El Salvador, Mozambique, and Cambodia.
Trump, on the other hand, remains unsuccessful regarding the resolution of certain wars he had promised to stop. Specifically, his promises to end the Russia-Ukraine war and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict remain mere words as nothing has been resolved yet.
One regional conflict involves Thailand and Cambodia. Their centuries-old border tensions escalated into deadly fighting in July 2025. The violence lasted four days, taking the lives of at least 35 people and displacing hundreds of thousands.
Trump pressured both nations by threatening to halt US trade negotiations unless they agreed to a ceasefire. A peace deal was signed in late July after talks hosted in Malaysia. The New York Times reported, “Officials met in Malaysia for talks organised by Malaysian and American officials and reached a deal to pause hostilities.”
However, the region remains tense, with ongoing exchanges of fire. The Times added critics say Trump’s intervention “did not address the underlying causes of the conflict.”
In the Balkans, Trump claimed he “prevented” a war between Serbia and Kosovo. While the specifics are unclear, during his first term, he hosted leaders from both countries in Washington to sign an economic normalization deal in 2020.
No peace agreement has been signed, and Trump has shown little interest in the issue upon returning to office. Kosovo’s President Vjosa Osmani said of Trump, “He has always been a leader that speaks with clarity and strength and conviction,” and that they expect “a strong message of peace through strength.”
It is also important to talk about the conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The situation turned tense when M23 rebels, allegedly backed by Rwanda, seized a mineral-rich area in eastern DRC. In June, foreign ministers from both countries signed a deal at the White House reaffirming a 2024 ceasefire.
Trump called it peace in “one of the worst wars anyone’s ever seen.” However, the rebels rejected the deal. The Times reported, “In the US president’s telling, the two sides put down their weapons after he promised investment from US mining companies in the resource-rich region of Kivu.” Despite Trump calling it “a glorious triumph,” fighting continued as comprehensive peace talks faltered.
The Kashmir conflict flared again in May 2025 after an attack killed 26 civilians in Indian-controlled territory. Neither side appeared ready for extended war, and a truce was announced on May 10. Trump took credit, writing on Truth Social, “After a long night of talks mediated by US, I am pleased to announce that India and Pakistan have agreed to a full and immediate ceasefire.”
While Pakistan nominated Trump for the Nobel Prize, India dismissed any US role, calling the talks direct bilateral negotiations.
War erupted between Israel and Iran on June 13, triggered by US airstrikes on Iranian nuclear sites. Trump believes this brought peace to the Middle East, with The Times reporting, “By bombing Iran’s nuclear facilities, the US president believes he has already brought peace to the Middle East.”
Trump even had a model of a B-2 Spirit Bomber installed in the Oval Office to mark this “flawless” success. He staged a ceasefire, calling the 12-day war officially over when both sides halted attacks in sequence.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised Trump, but Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei dismissed the strikes as ineffective. The Guardian noted, “Several analysts have publicly doubted that the disagreement over Iran’s nuclear ambitions has been resolved and warn that the conflict could re-ignite.”
For over a decade, Egypt and Ethiopia have disputed the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) on the Nile. The dam, operational since 2022, supports Ethiopia’s energy needs, while Egypt fears it threatens their water supply.
As talks collapsed in June, Trump announced on social media that the US would “solve the dispute soon.” He also claimed the US partially funded the dam, which the White House could not confirm, and Ethiopian officials strongly denied. The New York Times said, “Trump’s diplomacy has done little to resolve the dispute.”
Nagorno-Karabakh has remained an issue for fights between Armenia and Azerbaijan for nearly 40 years. In September 2023 Azerbaijan seized the territory, further escalating the situation.
On August 8, a peace deal was announced at the White House, including plans for a road named the “Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity,” to connect Azerbaijan to Nakhchivan.
The New York Times reported, “Leaders of both countries praised Trump for stepping in, but Azerbaijan continues to demand Armenia amend its constitution to remove mention of Nagorno-Karabakh. Azerbaijan still occupies parts of Armenia, citing security concerns, and no border agreement exists.”
Therefore, Trump’s claims of resolving all the seven wars seem hollow when they are scrutinized. Despite his administration consistently trying to paint the President as the ultimate savior and peacemaker, reports show Trump as something far from that.
