President Donald Trump is making a last-minute play for the Nobel Peace Prize, arguing that he should win the award that will be given out this week by a Norwegian organization for settling eight conflicts
and intervening to keep Iran from developing a nuclear weapon.
Asked in the Oval Office about the prestigious prize that the Norwegian Nobel Institute will give out on Oct. 9, Trump alluded to the unsolved war between Russia and Ukraine that his administration has been trying to stop and said he should win the award for getting Israeli hostages back from Hamas.
"I'm not bragging. I'm just telling you the facts. No president probably has settled any wars. I settled eight wars, and big ones," Trump told journalists.
Trump has long groused about not winning the Nobel Peace Prize and campaigned heavily last year to be a recipient.
He did not win, in spite of his push, and has launched two military conflicts since. One in Venezuela – which the United States invaded in January, then arrested the country's leader on drug charges – and another in Iran – which America has been at war with since February, partly over the regime's desire to pursue a nuclear program.
Trump renewed his complaints on Oct. 7 that former President Barack Obama received the prize his first year in office. He also said he'd saved millions of lives and "stopped maybe the total obliteration of the world" through his bid to keep Iran from developing a nuclear weapon.
"I don't know what their decision's going to be. They have a reputation for maybe not giving it to people like me. But whether I get it or not, I have done far more, and I think it would be a great discredit to them," Trump said.
Last year's Nobel Peace Prize winner, Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, gifted Trump her award during an Oval Office visit, after the U.S. operation in Caracas that allowed Delcy Rodriguez to claim power.
"And since then, we've done a lot," Trump said.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'I'm not bragging': Trump makes last-minute play for Nobel Peace Prize
