In NATO Visit, Trump Casts Himself as a Global Peacemaker

President Trump spent less than 24 hours at the NATO summit this week, but he was eager to use the brief diplomatic visit to cast himself as a global peacemaker.

Before he even arrived in the Netherlands, he had negotiated a cease-fire between Israel and Iran, NATO had acquiesced to his demand to increase military spending and he and his allies had argued he should get the Nobel Peace Prize, an accolade he has been angling to win for years.

So Mr. Trump was irked when asked at his news conference on Wednesday about one of his failed foreign policy promises: Why had he not ended the war between Russia and Ukraine, which he had repeatedly promised to do within 24 hours while running for president?

Mr. Trump said the conflict was “more difficult” than anyone understood, blamed both President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia and President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine and quickly moved on.

Mr. Trump’s sojourn in the Netherlands, which included a night’s stay at a royal palace, offered a glimpse into how he sees himself — and wants to be seen — on the world stage. He wants recognition for his role in ending wars, although he appeared less interested in the details of making them stick.

“I mean, look, we just ended a war in 12 days that was simmering for 30 years frankly,” he said of the conflict between Israel and Iran. He expressed total confidence that Iran had no interest in pursuing nuclear weapons again — so much so that he said he did not care about any diplomatic agreement to formalize that.