President Donald Trump has been declared the favorite to win the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize, according to a U.K. betting company, despite starting the Iran war.
Trump’s war with Iran began February 28, and there is still no end in sight for the conflict. But now, a spokesperson for U.K. bookmaker William Hill says his odds to win the prize are on the rise.
“Although the Norwegian Nobel Committee have not confirmed that Donald Trump is among the 287 candidates for the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize, we make Trump the leading contender to take this year’s award,” spokesperson Lee Phelps said, according to Mediaite.
“Trump was overlooked by the committee last year in favor of Venezuelan politician María Corina Machado, but we now price the U.S. President at 3/1 to claim the 2026 prize – a 25 percent chance. That is a longer price than we quoted late last year, when we rated Trump’s chances at 55 percent,” he added.
Trump has long claimed that he deserves to win the Nobel Peace Prize, and his allies complained after last year’s award went to Machado. In January, she presented her prize to Trump, who called the offer “such a wonderful gesture of mutual respect.”
Several world leaders, including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet, have said they nominated Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize. The annual deadline for nominations is January 31.
Trump has “no idea” if the war with Iran will “get him over the finish line” with the Nobel Committee, he told the Washington Examiner on March 12.
“I don’t know. I’m not interested in it,” he said.
But about two weeks later, the president claimed that if he doesn’t secure the prize, nobody will.
“If I don't get the Nobel Prize for peace, nobody will ever get it. I didn't get it. I'm not surprised. The person that got it was shocked — she’s a wonderful woman too, by the way,” he said at an investment event in Miami, Florida.
The president also said he wants to be known as a “great peacemaker.”
“I know it doesn't sound right for me to say this, but I'd love my legacy to be made as a great peacemaker, because I really believe I’m a peacemaker. It doesn’t seem it right now, but I think I'm a peacemaker,” he added.
There are 287 nominees for this year’s Nobel Peace Prize, including 208 individuals and 79 organizations, the Norwegian Nobel Committee announced Thursday.
“The number of nominations remains consistently high, reflecting the robust global interest in the Nobel Peace Prize. In an increasingly conflictual world, there is no lack of candidates whose principled commitment and innovative action points towards a brighter future,” the organization said in a statement.
Nominees’ names are kept secret for 50 years, and Kristian Berg Harpviken, secretary of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, declined to tell Reuters whether Trump had been nominated this year. Still, it appears likely the president is on the list.
The Independent has contacted William Hill and the White House for comment.
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