Q: Did President Donald Trump solve seven wars in seven months?
A: Trump has claimed he “ended” six or seven wars since returning to the White House in January. Experts in international relations said the president has had a significant role in ending fighting in four conflicts, though officials in one country refute Trump’s claim. But some of the international disagreements Trump cites have not been wars, and some clashes have not ended, experts said.
FULL ANSWER
In recent months President Donald Trump has claimed on numerous occasions that his intervention has resulted in ending multiple wars around the world. Experts said Trump has played a key role in ending fighting in some conflicts, but other examples Trump cites were not wars — and some hostilities are ongoing.
In a Truth Social video posted on July 26, Trump said, “I’ve stopped six wars … I’m averaging about a war a month.” He repeated the claim weeks later, saying at an Aug. 18 White House meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, “I’ve done six wars. … And this one, I think we’re going to get solved also,” referring to the Ukraine-Russia war, which is still ongoing. The next day, in an interview on Fox & Friends, the president added to his tally, saying, “I’ve solved seven wars. We ended seven wars.”
The president also claimed on Aug. 25 that he used the threat of tariffs to pressure countries to come to the negotiating table. “The seven wars I stopped, four of them were because of the fact that I had tariffs and trade and I was able to say, well, if you do this, if you go fight and if you want to kill everybody, that’s OK, but I’m going to charge you each 100% tariff when you trade with us. You know what, they all gave up. I stopped seven wars, numerous of them was because of tariffs.”
We received several emails from readers asking if Trump’s peacemaking claims are true and, if so, which wars he ended.
Trump has claimed credit for settling conflicts between India and Pakistan, Israel and Iran, Egypt and Ethiopia, Thailand and Cambodia, Serbia and Kosovo, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Armenia and Azerbaijan. Experts or the countries’ leaders said Trump had successfully helped to end the fighting between Israel and Iran, Thailand and Cambodia, Armenia and Azerbaijan, and Pakistan and India, though Indian leaders refute that claim.
Since his first term in the White House, Trump has expressed interest in winning a Nobel Peace Prize, frequently noting the times he has been nominated, as we’ve written. In recent months he has been nominated by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and by the governments of Pakistan and Cambodia, and several world leaders visiting the White House have declared him worthy of the honor.
But in a June 20 Truth Social post, Trump said he didn’t expect to receive the international honor, saying, “No, I won’t get a Nobel Peace Prize no matter what I do, including Russia/Ukraine, and Israel/Iran, whatever those outcomes may be, but the people know, and that’s all that matters to me!” Speaking to reporters that day, he also said, “They won’t give me a Nobel Peace Prize, because they only give it to liberals.”
Evelyn Farkas, executive director of Arizona State University’s nonpartisan McCain Institute, told us in a phone interview that Trump is “demonstrating a lot of focus on peacemaking, which is laudable. And in the cases where he can get quick results, he’s been successful.” But in other conflicts, “these are deep-seated, fundamental disagreements that don’t lend themselves to quick diplomacy.”
Here, we will address the outcome of Trump’s attempts to settle the conflicts in each case.
We reached out to the White House for information to support Trump’s claims regarding his intervention with Egypt and Ethiopia and with Serbia and Kosovo, but a White House spokesperson didn’t answer our specific questions. “President Trump was referring to the seven conflicts that he’s highlighted many times – including multiple wars that lasted over 30 years before the President intervened and stopped the killing,” the spokesperson said in an email. “He was also referencing conflicts that would have broken out had he not stepped in to keep the peace through the Abraham Accords and other measures.”
India and Pakistan
A terrorist attack that killed 26 people in the long-disputed border region of Kashmir in April sparked days of intense drone and missile strikes between India and Pakistan. The two sides agreed to a ceasefire on May 10.
At a new flagpole installation at the White House on June 18, Trump said he “stopped the war between Pakistan and India. … And they were going at it and they’re both nuclear countries. I got it stopped.”
At an Aug. 26 Cabinet meeting, Trump recounted how he warned the leaders of India and Pakistan that their fighting risked higher tariffs and reduced trade with the U.S. “I’m talking to a very terrific man, [Prime Minister Narendra] Modi of India. And I say, what’s going on with you and Pakistan? Then I’m talking to Pakistan — on trade. I said, what’s going on with you and India? … I don’t want to make a trade deal with you. You’re going to have a nuclear war. You guys are going to end up in a nuclear war. And that was very important to them. I said, call me back tomorrow, but we’re not going to do any deals with you, or we’re going to put tariffs on you that are so high.”
But the Indian government denied that the United States played a role in negotiating the ceasefire. Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said, “The talks regarding cessation of military action were held directly between India and Pakistan under the existing channels established between both militaries,” the BBC reported.
Misri said that Modi told Trump that during the conflict, “no talks were held at any level on the India-America trade deal or on the mediation between India and Pakistan by America,” the BBC also reported.
The Pakistani government, however, announced on X on June 20 that it was nominating Trump for the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize “in recognition of his decisive diplomatic intervention and pivotal leadership during the recent India-Pakistan crisis. … At a moment of heightened regional turbulence, President Trump demonstrated great strategic foresight and stellar statesmanship through robust diplomatic engagement with both Islamabad and New Delhi which de-escalated a rapidly deteriorating situation, ultimately securing a ceasefire and averting a broader conflict between the two nuclear states that would have had catastrophic consequences for millions of people in the region and beyond.”
A paper by Christopher Clary of the Henry L. Stimson Center, a foreign policy think tank, said the conflict “concluded with significant diplomatic engagement, primarily by the United States” and spearheaded by Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Clary, an associate professor of political science at the University at Albany, wrote that the U.S. did have “a major role in crisis management, especially in the final hours of the crisis” between India and Pakistan. “While it is conceivable another actor could have played this role as crisis communicator of choice for both combatants, and some alternative third parties did play a role in crisis diplomacy, none of those alternative actors appear to have participated with the same efficacy as the United States.”
Israel and Iran
Israel began a series of airstrikes against Iran on June 13 to disable its nuclear weapon capabilities, hitting military and uranium enrichment facilities and killing military leaders and scientists. Iran retaliated with ballistic missile attacks on Israeli cities. The United States joined the conflict on June 21, dropping bunker-busting bombs that severely damaged Iran’s primary nuclear facilities, as we’ve written. Iran fired back with a restrained missile strike on a U.S. air base in Qatar.
Qatari officials served as intermediaries on behalf of the U.S. to bring a ceasefire proposal, signed by Israel, to Iran, the New York Times reported.
A ceasefire was announced on June 24, with Israel and Iran both claiming victory in the 12-day war and Trump taking credit. “Both Israel and Iran wanted to stop the War, equally! It was my great honor to Destroy All Nuclear facilities & capability, and then, STOP THE WAR!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Farkas, of the McCain Institute, told us, “I would give [Trump] credit for ending the war. It was a war — they were launching missiles against each other,” war was “declared by both sides, and Trump intervened. He gets credit for that.”
Farkas, who served as a deputy assistant secretary of defense during the Obama administration, said Trump’s actions were successful on several levels. “The fact that he weighed in with direct military action was a contributing factor,” she said. “There was also the threat that if they didn’t take action” to reach a ceasefire, he “would take action.” In Israel’s case, the U.S. could withhold weapon support, and in Iran’s case, there was the threat of further punitive strikes by the U.S., Farkas said.
She also credits the Trump administration with “maintaining ongoing efforts” to open talks with Iran on curtailing its uranium enrichment activity.
Egypt and Ethiopia
In a June 15 Truth Social post that recounted his purported peacemaking achievements between India and Pakistan and other countries, Trump said, “Another case is Egypt and Ethiopia, and their fight over a massive dam that is having an effect on the magnificent Nile River. There is peace, at least for now, because of my intervention, and it will stay that way!”
Trump was referring to Ethiopia’s multibillion-dollar Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam on the Blue Nile, a tributary of the Nile River, to meet the electrical power needs of its booming population. Ethiopia has announced that the project is completed and will be inaugurated in September. But Egypt, which already deals with water scarcity, sits downriver from the dam and views the project as a threat to its water security.
The dam has been under construction for years, but the two nations haven’t reached an agreement over water usage. Both sides have implied they will resort to military action, the Associated Press reported in 2020, but tensions over the dam have never reached the point of warfare.
Regarding Trump’s claim of achieving peace between Egypt and Ethiopia, the McCain Institute’s Farkas said, “I’m not even aware that there’s a shooting war. You can’t claim that you’ve brought a war to an end” if a war hasn’t occurred.
“If you have helped resolve a dispute, you can take credit for that,” Farkas added.
But after 13 years of negotiations, there have been no reports of an agreement between Egypt and Ethiopia over the dam and Nile River water rights.
Thailand and Cambodia
Thailand and Cambodia began a five-day armed conflict on July 24 along their disputed border following injuries to five Thai soldiers in a land mine explosion. The border conflict caused at least 41 deaths and displaced more than 260,000 people, the Associated Press reported. The two nations announced a ceasefire on July 28 following a summit in Malaysia.
Trump claimed credit for ending the conflict in a July 28 Truth Social post, announcing that “after the involvement of President Donald J. Trump, both Countries have reached a CEASEFIRE and PEACE.” Rubio said at an Aug. 26 Cabinet meeting that Trump “just [picked] up the phone and [told] them to stop fighting” and “within 72 hours, the fighting had stopped.”
This fighting was the most recent iteration of a decades-long territorial dispute between the two nations, particularly over the ownership of several centuries-old temples in contested border territories. The two countries engaged in “multiple deadly skirmishes throughout 2008 and 2011” while expanding their security postures in the region, according to experts with the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Prior to the recent eruption of violence, the two countries were facing a potential 36% tariff rate on U.S. imports of their goods, a rate Trump announced on July 7, saying it would take effect on Aug. 1.
In a series of Truth Social posts, Trump recounted his talks with Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet and Thai Acting Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai. On July 26, Trump wrote that the United States “happen[s] to be, by coincidence, currently dealing on Trade with both Countries, but do[es] not want to make any Deal, with either Country, if they are fighting — And I have told them so!”
Following Trump’s call with Thailand’s leader, Trump posted that “Thailand, like Cambodia, wants to have an immediate Ceasefire, and PEACE.” Trump then called Cambodia’s leader and announced on Truth Social that Cambodia also sought “an immediate Ceasefire and Peace,” as well as a return to trade negotiations with the U.S. Trump reiterated that it would be “inappropriate” to negotiate trade until hostilities ceased, but ultimately announced that the two countries “have agreed to immediately meet and quickly work out a Ceasefire.”
On July 28, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim mediated a meeting in Malaysia between the Thai and Cambodian leaders, which was “co-organized by the United States of America with the active participation of the People’s Republic of China, to promote a peaceful resolution to the ongoing situation.” The Malaysian, Thai and Cambodian leaders released a joint statement on the agreement, which credited Trump for being “in contact with the leaders of both countries urging the leaders to find [a] peaceful solution to the situation.”
The Cambodian prime minister nominated Trump for a Nobel Peace Prize on Aug. 7, writing, “President Trump’s extraordinary statesmanship — marked by his commitment to resolving conflicts and preventing catastrophic wars through visionary and innovative diplomacy — was most recently demonstrated in his decisive role in brokering an immediate and unconditional cease-fire between Cambodia and Thailand,” as the New York Times reported.
Experts said Trump’s tariff pressure encouraged ceasefire negotiations. Ken Lohatepanont, a political analyst and University of Michigan doctoral candidate, told the AP that “President Trump’s decision to condition a successful conclusion to these [trade] talks on a ceasefire likely played a significant role in ensuring that both sides came to the negotiating table.” Lohatepanont added that Thailand was particularly “racing to negotiate” with the U.S., as the potential tariff rate of 36% would threaten Thailand’s economy.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick announced on July 30 that the U.S. had reached trade agreements with Thailand and Cambodia to set tariff rates on U.S. imports from those countries at 19%.
Despite the newly signed trade agreements and ceasefire, tensions persist along the Thai-Cambodian border, particularly over Cambodia’s use of land mines.
Serbia and Kosovo
Trump has claimed several times recently that one of the wars he stopped was between Serbia and Kosovo. “I mean, that was going to be a disaster, and I stopped it,” he said in a radio interview on Aug. 19. But that overstates the role he had, in his first term, in an ongoing dispute.
The White House has pointed to a 2020 agreement, facilitated by Trump, for the two countries to normalize economic relations.
The discord between Kosovo and Serbia reaches back more than a century to the creation of the former Yugoslavia. That country was composed of six republics — Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Macedonia, and Serbia, which included two autonomous regions, Vojvodina in the north and Kosovo in the south.
The population across this patchwork country was a mix of ethnic and religious groups.
Kosovo, which borders Albania, is primarily Albanian and Muslim.
Serbia is primarily Serbian Orthodox, which is Christian.
When Yugoslavia began falling apart in the late 1980s and early 1990s, “Political leaders used nationalist rhetoric to erode a common Yugoslav identity and fuel fear and mistrust among different ethnic groups,” according to the United Nations’ International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, which was created to address war crimes that spanned most of the 1990s.
Increasing tensions between Serbia and Kosovo exploded in 1998, when Serbia crushed an insurgency in Kosovo, “which included widespread atrocities against civilians,” according to the State Department’s Office of the Historian. NATO then entered the fray “to halt and reverse the humanitarian catastrophe that was then unfolding,” it said.
By June 1999, Serbia had agreed to withdraw from Kosovo in the Kumanovo Agreement, the first accord between Kosovo — which declared its independence in 2008 — and Serbia. An EU-led dialogue produced an agreement in 2013 that normalized relations between the two governments. During Trump’s first term, the two countries signed an agreement in 2020 at the White House to establish economic normalization.
But tensions have remained between the two countries, and NATO maintains troops there to, in part, “deter renewed hostilities.”
Some experts have noted Trump’s repeated references to the conflict between Serbia and Kosovo and considered that it may suggest the president is interested in renewing the U.S. role there.
“While the second Trump administration hasn’t demonstrated an interest in mediating Kosovo-Serbia talks thus far, it has proven unpredictable in its diplomatic initiatives,” Agon Maliqi, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Europe Center, wrote in an Aug. 25 article. “The Trump administration may, for example, eventually engage on this issue to seek a foreign policy ‘win’ if progress on peace initiatives elsewhere prove elusive.”
Rwanda and Congo
Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo also have a long and tortured history — theirs traces back to the 1994 Rwandan genocide.
And they have also agreed to various accords over the years.
In this case, though, violence in Congo near the Rwandan border had ramped up recently, and the Trump administration did broker a peace deal.
The violence had been increasing since the M23 rebel paramilitary group — which the U.N. has identified as receiving support from Rwanda, although Rwanda denies this — began seizing Congolese territory in 2022. In January of this year, M23 took control of the Congolese city of Goma.
On June 27, foreign ministers from Rwanda and Congo signed the U.S.-brokered peace agreement and met at the White House with Trump.
The deal required both countries to support ongoing negotiations between Congo and M23 and to “support the disengagement, disarmament, and integration of non-state armed groups.”
But within weeks, “at least 319 civilians were killed by M23 fighters, aided by members of the Rwanda Defence Force” in the Congolese province of North Kivu, the U.N. reported.
Human Rights Watch reported on the same armed campaign, which, it said, happened between July 10 and July 30.
Trump is correct when he says that his administration brokered a peace deal. But he goes too far when he says, “You go to Africa, the Congo and Rwanda, they’ve been fighting for 31 years. And I got it settled, all settled. They were all happy, everybody settled. Nobody’s being killed,” as he said in an interview on Aug. 19.
Armenia and Azerbaijan
The conflict between the neighboring states of Armenia and Azerbaijan also goes back decades and centers on ethnic tensions that have churned since the Soviet Union created an autonomous region in 1923 — called Nagorno-Karabakh — within Azerbaijan that was populated primarily by ethnic Armenians.
“Nagorno-Karabakh’s regional legislature passed a resolution in 1988 declaring its intention to join the Republic of Armenia despite its official location within Azerbaijan. Armed fighting between the two republics, which have a long history of ethnic tension, quickly followed,” the Council on Foreign Relations has explained.
A Russia-brokered ceasefire in 1994 left Nagorno-Karabakh essentially independent, and the area has remained fraught.
In 2020, war broke out in the region, and “[o]n September 20, 2023, Azerbaijan reasserted control over Nagorno-Karabakh,” the Congressional Research Service wrote in a report the following month.
The peace negotiations that followed were slow and fragile, Thomas de Waal, a senior fellow at Carnegie Europe who focuses on Eastern Europe and the Caucasus, wrote in commentary published in September 2024.
On Aug. 8, the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan met at the White House and agreed to seek peace, signing what the Trump administration called a “joint declaration on the outcomes of the Trump route for international peace and prosperity summit.”
“The joint declaration, however, is not a final peace agreement,” two former U.S. ambassadors to Azerbaijan explained in a piece for the Atlantic Council. “It does not in itself completely end the conflict that turned into open warfare between the two former Soviet republics during the final days of the Soviet Union.”
Rather, the joint declaration says that Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev have initialed a peace plan.
“In this respect, we acknowledged the need to continue further actions to achieve the signing and ultimate ratification of the Agreement, and emphasized the importance of maintaining and strengthening peace between our two countries,” the joint declaration says.
Both leaders praised Trump for brokering the deal and indicated that they would continue to pursue peace.
When Trump says that “we just ended the war” between Armenia and Azerbaijan, it’s true that he brokered a deal and secured pledges from the two countries to commit to peace, but the deal hasn’t yet been fully adopted.
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