By Chris Summers
Pakistan has nominated U.S. President Donald Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize, calling him a “genuine peacemaker” for his role in helping to avert a major confrontation between India and Pakistan last month.
Pakistan’s government said in a statement posted Saturday on the social media platform X that Trump had demonstrated “stellar statesmanship” during the India-Pakistan crisis. It was triggered by the terrorist massacre of 26 Indian tourists near Pahalgam in India-controlled Kashmir on April 22.
At the time, India accused Pakistan of supporting the terrorists, but the two countries, both nuclear-armed, agreed to the terms of a U.S.-mediated cease-fire on May 10, following three days of cross-border shelling, drone attacks, and missile strikes
The Pakistani government statement said Trump showed “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.”
On May 12, Trump told reporters he had threatened to revoke all U.S. trade with both India and Pakistan unless they agreed to stop the fighting.
“I said, ‘Come on, we’re going to do a lot of trade with you guys. If you stop it, we’re doing trade. If you don’t stop it, we’re not going to do any trade,’” Trump said.
Trump said, “We stopped the nuclear conflict … It could have been a bad nuclear war. Millions of people could have been killed.”
The nominations for the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize—to be awarded in October—closed in January, so Pakistan’s citation would be for next year’s prize.
On Friday, Trump posted on the social media platform Truth Social that he had arranged a “wonderful treaty” between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Trump said, “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!”
Pakistan Condemns U.S. Strikes on Iran
Pakistan nominated Trump for the prize—which U.S. President Barack Obama won in 2009—before news emerged of the U.S. air strikes against Iran’s nuclear facilities.
In a statement posted to X on Sunday by Pakistani Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, Islamabad said, “Pakistan condemns the U.S. attacks on Iranian nuclear facilities, which follow a series of attacks by Israel.”
The Pakistani government said the U.S. bombing violated international law and that Iran has “the legitimate right to defend itself under the U.N. Charter.”
“The unprecedented escalation of tension and violence, owing to ongoing aggression against Iran is deeply disturbing. Any further escalation of tensions will have severely damaging implications for the region and beyond,” Islamabad said in the June 22 statement.
“Recourse to dialogue, diplomacy, in line with the principles and purposes of the UN Charter remains the only viable pathway to resolve the crises in the region.”
On Sunday, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said he called Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and “conveyed Pakistan’s condemnation of the U.S. attacks.”
On the same day, thousands of people marched in the Pakistani city of Karachi to protest the U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran.
Reuters contributed to this report.
