President of Peace? Trump's 'eight wars' boast falls apart

Donald Trump tied up his first year back in the White House with a flurry of dramatic foreign policy moves; forcing regime change in Venezuela, threatening Iran with airstrikes and fracturing vital relationships with Nato allies over a plan to annex Greenland.

- ALEX CROFT JAMES C. REYNOLDS

But despite the aggressive manoeuvring, the US president insists he is a peacemaker. Mr Trump began his second term last January with a promise to end Russia's war on Ukraine within a day. That conflict is still very much in progress a year later despite repeated US-brokered peace talks.

Nevertheless, in recent months, Mr Trump has taken to claiming he has ended eight wars since returning to office, and stated he “can’t think of anybody in history that should get the Nobel Prize more than me”.

“The eight wars that my administration has ended in eight months – there’s never been anything like that,” Mr Trump bragged in late October, during a signing ceremony to end a conflict between Cambodia and Thailand.

“We’re averaging one a month... It’s like, I shouldn’t say it’s a hobby, because it’s so much more serious, but it’s something I’m good at and something I love to do.”

Below, The Independent looks at whether Mr Trump’s self-professed list of achievements stands up to scrutiny.

Israel and Hamas: Hundreds dead since US ceasefire deal

In October 2025, the Trump administration managed to broker a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas after two years of deadly conflict, sparked by the militant group's attack on October 7, 2023. Some 1,200 people were killed in the attack and around 250 more were taken hostage.

Gazan authorities say more than 71,000 Palestinians were killed in the two-year Israeli assault on the strip that followed.

As part of the US-brokered ceasefire, Mr Trump secured the release of the last living hostages and all but one of the bodies of the deceased have been returned.