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Israel and Hamas's agreement to the first phase of US President Donald Trump's Gaza deal comes a day before the Nobel Peace Prize for 2025 – the coveted prize that the 79-year-old is eyeing – is announced. The White House, consequently, has capitalised on the moment by calling Trump "the peace President" in a well-timed tweet.
Trump has claimed to have played the peacemaker in as many as seven wars, including the four-day conflict between India and Pakistan in May, which New Delhi has time and again dismissed. Furthermore, the US President hosted the leaders of Azerbaijan and Armenia at the White House in August during the signing of an agreement to end the decades-long conflict between the two nations.
"It's been a long time coming," Trump had said of the deal, which will reopen some vital transport routes between Azerbaijan and Armenia and increase US influence in the region. Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan shook hands after Trump described the moment to be "historic" and was pictured smiling gleefully.
The US President, meanwhile, has never fallen short of taking digs in his Nobel Peace Prize pursuit. In his latest jibe, he said perhaps the Nobel Committee will find a way to not give him the prize.
"I have no idea... Marco would tell you we settled seven wars. We're close to settling an eighth. I think we'll end up settling the Russia situation... I don't think anybody in history has settled that many. But perhaps they'll find a reason not to give it to me," he told conservative influencers in the White House's Blue Room during a roundtable on Antifa – an anti-fascist movement he recently designated as a terrorist organisation – a few hours before announcing on Truth Social about the breakthrough in the Gaza plan.
Last week, Trump said if he faced a Nobel snub, it would be a "big insult" to the US. "Will you get the Nobel Prize? Absolutely not. They'll give it to some guy who didn't do a damn thing. They'll give it to a guy that wrote a book about the 'Mind of Donald Trump'... It will be a big insult to our country... I don't want it. I want the country to get it," the US President said at a high-profile military gathering in Quantico, Virginia, called by Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth.
Nevertheless, Trump makes sure to highlight his 'achievements' now and then. Be it his address at the 80th United Nations General Assembly session last month or the White House's latest tweet – the goal is for the 79-year-old Republican to win the Nobel Peace Prize.
In fact, he is racing against the world, even the mediators, to be the first to announce. A brief moment featuring a note between US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Trump at Wednesday's roundtable, which was reported by The Associated Press, may back his strive for the prize. Rubio passed a folded, handwritten note to the US President, signalling a key development in Middle East peace talks. "You need to approve a Truth Social post soon so you can announce the deal first," it read, as captured by The Associated Press photographers.
Trump reportedly continued with the interactions before excusing himself and leaving the floor to Attorney General Pam Bondi and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to take questions. At 6:51 pm, almost two hours after the note moment, Donald Trump announced on Truth Social that Israel and Hamas had agreed to the first phase of his Gaza peace plan.
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Published On:
Oct 9, 2025
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