FIFA gives President Donald Trump peace prize in departure from its traditional focus on sport
Washington (AP): President Donald Trump was awarded the new FIFA peace prize on Friday at the 2026 World Cup draw — giving the spectacle to set matchups for the quadrennial soccer tournament even more of a Trumpian flair.
Trump, who has openly campaigned for the Nobel Peace Price, had been heavily favoured to win the newly created FIFA prize. He and FIFA president Gianni Infantino are close allies, and Infantino had made clear that he thought Trump should have won the Nobel for his efforts to broker a ceasefire in Gaza.
The US president was awarded the prize that Infantino said was a “beautiful medal for you that you can wear everywhere you want to go.” Trump promptly placed the medal around his neck. The certificate that Infantino handed Trump recognises the US president for his actions to “promote peace and unity around the world.”
“This is what we want from a leader — a leader that cares about the people,” Infantino said about Trump, who was also presented with a gold trophy with his name on it that depicts hands holding up the world. The FIFA leader said to Trump “this is your prize, this is your peace prize.”
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Trump thanked his family, including his wife, first lady Melania Trump, and praised the leaders of the other two host nations — Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum — in his brief remarks, saying the coordination with the countries has been “outstanding.”
“This is truly one of the great honours of my life,” Trump said.
Infantino has often spoken about soccer as a unifier for the world, but the prize is a departure from the federation's traditional focus on sport.
The FIFA president was also on hand Thursday at the newly renamed Donald J. Trump Institute of Peace in Washington, where Trump and the leaders of the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda signed a deal aimed at ending the conflict in eastern Congo.
FIFA has described the prize as one that rewards “individuals who have taken exceptional and extraordinary actions for peace and by doing so have united people across the world.”
The award to Trump came during a week in which his administration has been engaged in shuttle diplomacy to try to end the war in Ukraine, while also under scrutiny for lethal strikes on alleged drug boats in the Caribbean and as Trump hardens his rhetoric against immigrants.
The Nobel this year was eventually awarded to Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, who said shortly after receiving the prize that she was dedicating it in part to Trump for “his decisive support of our cause.”
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'Ab kya hoga, ye rab jane...': Tharoor takes dig at failed US-Iran talks in Pakistan
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New Delhi (PTI): Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Monday took a swipe at the "failed" US-Iran peace talks in Pakistan with an Urdu couplet, saying only god knows now what will happen.
"Ab kya hoga, ye rab jane; Na woh mane, na ye mane (only god knows what will happen now as both sides did not agree)," Tharoor said on X, tagging a post-talks video clip of US Vice President J D Vance, who led the American delegation at the negotiations in Islamabad.
The United States and Iran failed to reach a peace deal at their historic 21-hour talks in Pakistan, leaving the fate of a tenuous two-week ceasefire in doubt, with both sides attempting to hold each other responsible for the collapse of the negotiations.
अब क्या होगा, ये रब जाने
— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) April 13, 2026
ना वो माने, ना ये माने https://t.co/DYrXpa7C8h
Vance said the Iranian side did not accept Washington's terms for ending the war even as the US presented its "final and best offer".
Hours after the talks collapsed, US President Donald Trump said on social media that the negotiations with Tehran failed as "Iran is unwilling to give up its nuclear ambitions".
Trump said the US Navy will actively interdict any vessel in international waters found to have paid tolls to Iran for transiting through the Strait of Hormuz, a critical shipping route that handles roughly 20 per cent of global oil and LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas).
Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the head of the Iranian negotiation team, said it is for the US to decide whether it can "earn our trust or not".
The Iranian foreign ministry, without elaborating, said the US side resorted to "excessive" and "illegal demands".
The failure to reach an agreement has dimmed the prospect of reopening the Strait of Hormuz to stabilise the global energy marke
