Donald Trump attacks Norway and Nobel committee after peace prize snub

Donald Trump has launched a furious attack on Norway and the Norwegian Nobel Committee, claiming the decision to deny him the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize leaves an "indelible stain" on the host nation.

Speaking at a Republican campaign rally in Syracuse, New York, on Friday, the US president said the committee had made a "disgraceful and embarrassing decision" by awarding the prize to someone else. Trump insisted he should have received the honour for his record in office.

"The Nobel Peace Prize has been forever discredited by a handful of radical ideologues who are anti-democracy and really enemies of civilization," Trump told the crowd at the Oncenter arena. Addressing Norway directly, he added: "We will not forget, Norway, that you didn't give this prize."

Who won the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize?

The committee awarded the 2026 peace prize earlier on Friday to Navanethem "Navi" Pillay, an 85-year-old South African legal pioneer and former judge at the International Criminal Court. Pillay previously served as the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and recently chaired a UN panel that concluded Israel was guilty of genocide in Gaza.

Trump dismissed Pillay during his speech, calling her a "mystery person" and a "liberal person who works at the United Nations, who nobody has ever heard of".

Learning of her award while attending a legal gathering in Nuremberg, Germany, Pillay joked to the audience: "If you clap a little bit more, I may share this prize with Trump."

What did Trump say about his foreign policy record?

During his address, Trump claimed he deserved multiple Nobel Peace Prizes for his diplomatic efforts, telling the crowd he should have received eight prizes for allegedly resolving eight ongoing conflicts. He asserted that he had prevented wars between North and South Korea, Japan and North Korea, and China and Taiwan, though he offered no evidence to support those claims.

Trump also told rallygoers that he had saved "more lives than anyone in history" and claimed credit for stopping Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. However, US intelligence assessments reported to Congress in 2025 that Iran had actually suspended its nuclear weapons programme in 2003.

The president promised to quickly end ongoing hostilities involving Russia and Ukraine, as well as the US war with Iran launched earlier this year. "Iran will be very quick one way or the other: that they give us everything or they don't exist any longer," Trump warned.

Trump was in Syracuse to campaign alongside local Republican candidates, including gubernatorial nominee Bruce Blakeman and attorney general candidate Saritha Komatireddy.