How many wars has President Trump ended?

As President Donald Trump tries to broker an end to the Russia-Ukraine war, he has been highlighting his track record in peace negotiations since starting his second term in office.

Speaking at the White House on 18 August, where he was pressed by European leaders to push for a ceasefire, he claimed: “I’ve ended six wars… all of these deals I made without even the mention of the word ‘ceasefire’.”

The following day the number he cited had risen to “seven wars”.

The Trump administration says a Nobel Peace Prize is “well past time” for the “peacemaker-in-chief”, and has listed the “wars” he has supposedly ended.

Some lasted just days – although they were the result of long-standing tensions – and it is unclear whether some of the peace deals will last.

Trump also used the word “ceasefire” a number of times when talking about them on his Truth Social platform.

BBC Verify has taken a closer look at these conflicts and how much credit the president can take for ending them.

The 12-day conflict began when Israel hit targets in Iran on 13 June.

Trump confirmed that he had been informed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ahead of the strikes.

The US carried out strikes on Iranian nuclear sites – a move widely seen as bringing the conflict towards a swift close.

On 23 June, Trump posted: “Officially, Iran will start the CEASEFIRE and, upon the 12th Hour, Israel will start the CEASEFIRE and, upon the 24th Hour, an Official END to THE 12 DAY WAR will be saluted by the World.”

After the hostilities ended, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei insisted his country had secured a “decisive victory” and did not mention a ceasefire.

Israel has since suggested it could strike Iran again to counter new threats.

“There is no agreement on a permanent peace or on how to monitor Iran’s nuclear programme going forward,” argues Michael O’Hanlon, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution think tank.

“So what we have is more of a de facto ceasefire than an end to war, but I’d give him some credit, as the weakening of Iran by Israel – with US help – has been strategically significant.”

Tensions between these two nuclear-armed countries have existed for years, but in May hostilities broke out following an attack in Indian-administered Kashmir.

After four days of strikes, Trump posted that India and Pakistan had agreed to a “FULL AND IMMEDIATE CEASEFIRE”.

He said this was the result of “a long night of talks mediated by the United States”.

Pakistan thanked Trump and later recommended him for the Nobel Peace Prize, citing his “decisive diplomatic intervention”.

India, however, played down talk of US involvement: “The talks regarding cessation of military action were held directly between India and Pakistan under the existing channels established between both militaries,” Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said.

Long-standing hostilities between these two countries flared up after the M23 rebel group seized mineral-rich territory in eastern DR Congo earlier in the year.

In June, the two countries signed a peace agreement in Washington aimed at ending decades of conflict. Trump said it would help increase trade between them and the US.

The text called for “respect for the ceasefire” agreed between Rwanda and DRC in August 2024.

Since the latest deal, both sides have accused each other of violating the ceasefire and the M23 rebels – which the UK and US have linked to Rwanda – have threatened to walk away from peace talks.

“There’s still fighting between Congo and Rwanda – so that ceasefire has never really held,” says Margaret MacMillan, a professor of history who taught at the University of Oxford.

On 26 July, Trump posted on Truth Social saying: “I am calling the Acting Prime Minister of Thailand, right now, to likewise request a Ceasefire, and END to the War, which is currently raging.”

A couple of days later, the two countries agreed to an “immediate and unconditional ceasefire” after less than a week of fighting at the border.

Malaysia held the peace talks, but President Trump threatened to stop separate negotiations on reducing US tariffs (taxes on imports) unless Thailand and Cambodia stopped fighting.

Both are heavily dependent on exports to the US.

On 7 August, Thailand and Cambodia reached an agreement aimed at reducing tensions along their shared border.

The leaders of both countries said Trump should receive the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts in securing a peace deal, which was announced at the White House on 8 August.

“I think he gets good credit here – the Oval Office signing ceremony may have pushed the parties to peace,” says Mr O’Hanlon.

In March, the two governments had said they were ready to end their nearly 40-year conflict centred on the status of Nagorno-Karabakh.

The most recent, serious outbreak of fighting was in September 2023 when Azerbaijan seized the enclave (where many ethnic Armenians lived).

There was no “war” here for the president to end, but there have long been tensions over a dam on the River Nile.

Ethiopia’s Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam was completed this summer with Egypt arguing that the water it gets from the Nile could be affected.

After 12 years of disagreement, Egypt’s foreign minister said on 29 June that talks with Ethiopia had ground to a halt.

Trump said: “If I were Egypt, I’d want the water in the Nile.” He promised that the US was going to resolve the issue very quickly.

Egypt welcomed Trump’s words, but Ethiopian officials said they risked inflaming tensions.

No formal deal has been reached between Egypt and Ethiopia to resolve their differences.

On 27 June, Trump claimed to have prevented an outbreak of hostilities between them, saying: “Serbia, Kosovo was going to go at it, going to be a big war. I said you go at it, there’s no trade with the United States. They said, well, maybe we won’t go at it.”

The two countries have long been in dispute – a legacy of the Balkan wars of the 1990s – with tensions rising in recent years.

“Serbia and Kosovo haven’t been fighting or firing at each other, so it’s not a war to end,” Prof MacMillan told us.

The White House pointed us towards Trump’s diplomatic efforts in his first term.

The two countries signed economic normalisation agreements in the Oval Office with the president in 2020, but they were not at war at the time.

Additional reporting by Peter Mwai, Shruti Menon and Eve Webster.