Trump Declares 'No One Deserves' Nobel Peace Prize More Than Him as Seven-Month Iran War Rages

Donald Trump has renewed his claim to the Nobel Peace Prize two days before this year's winner is named, while his administration wages an ongoing war with Iran that is now in its eighth month.

Speaking in the Oval Office on Wednesday, 7 October 2026, the president said he should win but doubted the Norwegian Nobel Committee would choose him.

He again cited last year's laureate, Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado, who has said Trump deserves the prize more than anyone in history. Analysts in Oslo say his chances are low.

'A Reputation for Maybe Not Giving It to People Like Me'

'It is about that time,' Trump told reporters, as the committee prepared to announce the 2026 award on Friday, 9 October, Reuters reported.

'I don't know what their decision is going to be,' he said. 'They have a reputation for maybe not giving it to people like me.'

Trump recalled the moment last year when Machado dedicated her prize to him. He said he was 'very honored to receive it indirectly last time by the recipient', and repeated her assessment that nobody in history deserved it more than he did.

Machado won the 2025 prize for what the committee called her struggle for a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy in Venezuela. She presented Trump with her medal during a White House meeting in January.

The Norwegian Nobel Institute said at the time that the prize cannot be transferred, ABC News Australia reported. Trump described the handover as 'a wonderful gesture of mutual respect'.

Eight Conflicts and a War Still Raging

Trump says he deserves the award after claiming to have intervened in eight international conflicts since returning to office in January 2025. The leaders of Cambodia, Israel and Pakistan have said they nominated him, although nomination records remain sealed for 50 years and the claims cannot be confirmed. Trump was also reported to have been nominated in 2025, when Machado won the prize.

Parties to several of those conflicts dispute the role Trump says he played. Fighting has flared again in the Democratic Republic of Congo and along the border between Cambodia and Thailand, two of the disputes he has cited among his diplomatic successes.

Pakistan credited Trump with helping to secure its 2025 ceasefire with India, while New Delhi rejected his claim that he had mediated the agreement.

Russia's war in Ukraine also continues, despite Trump's campaign promise to end it on his first day back in office.

The ongoing Iran war is a major obstacle to Trump's case. The United States and Israel launched strikes on the country on 28 February, beginning a conflict that is now in its eighth month. The fighting has disrupted global energy markets and contributed to higher fuel prices in the United States ahead of the 3 November midterm elections.

Trump has struggled to give a clear timetable for ending it. At a rally in Nebraska on Monday he said the war could last a few more weeks, until after the midterms. He also said 'let them take out Los Angeles' and San Diego while arguing that higher fuel prices were a small price to pay for keeping the country safe, Time reported.

White House communications director Steven Cheung said Trump was warning that American cities would have been threatened if Iran had been allowed to obtain a nuclear weapon, rather than advocating attacks on them.

Experts Say Trump's Chances Are Low

Specialists who follow the prize say a Trump win is improbable. Haakon Gjerløw, acting director of the Peace Research Institute Oslo, described his chances as 'quite low', ABC News Australia reported. He said the committee would weigh whether an award might do more harm than good and might worry about coming under pressure from Trump.

Shawn Davies of the Uppsala Conflict Data Program said even Trump's supporters would struggle to believe he could win, 'given how he's stuck in what looks like a forever war in Iran'.

There were 287 candidates nominated for the 2026 prize: 208 individuals and 79 organisations. Gjerløw identified several potential contenders, including the International Space Station, as a rare symbol of global cooperation, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, for standing up to Trump over US tariffs, Ukrainian children's advocate Mykola Kuleba, Save the Children, Sudan's Emergency Response Rooms and the Committee to Protect Journalists.

Reuters identified Pope Leo, the International Criminal Court and the UN special rapporteur for the Palestinian Territories among the names being discussed.

An Old Grievance

Trump has campaigned openly for the prize since his first term and has repeatedly complained that Barack Obama received it in 2009, months into his presidency, despite what Trump has portrayed as less substantial achievements.

When Machado was named in 2025, White House communications director Steven Cheung said the committee had 'proved they place politics over peace'. Four US presidents have won the award: Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Jimmy Carter and Barack Obama. Former vice-president Al Gore also received it.

His latest remark about the committee's 'reputation' echoed that criticism, and came as he weighed his chances aloud in front of reporters.

The committee will announce the 2026 laureate on Friday, with the president's war against Iran still unresolved.