Cambodia’s deputy prime minister says the country will nominate Donald Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize after he helped secure a ceasefire with Thailand after days of deadly skirmishes.

At least 43 people have been killed in the intense clashes, which lasted five days and displaced more than 300,000 people on both sides of the border in the worst violence between the neighbouring countries in more than a decade.

Sun Chanthol thanks the US president for bringing peace and said he deserved to be nominated for the prize.

“We acknowledge his great efforts for peace,” Mr Chanthol said.

The Nobel Peace Prize is the highest-profile international award given to an individual or organisation deemed to have done the most to “advance fellowship between nations”.

Cambodia said it would recommend Mr Trump for the award, after he made a phone call that reportedly broke a deadlock between Phnom Penh and Bangkok at the weekend.

Global arms trade exposed in Thai-Cambodia conflict Photo shows A drone over orange flames. The fighting between Thailand and Cambodia exposes the depth of global arms proliferation in South-East Asia, proving more sophisticated and deadly than experts expected.

Reuters spoke to four sources from both countries to ascertain what secured the ceasefire that stopped the conflict.

When Mr Trump called Thai Acting Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai on Saturday, two days after fighting erupted along a 200-km-long stretch of the border, Bangkok had not responded to mediation offers from Malaysia and China, said a Thai government source with direct knowledge.

Thailand said it preferred bilateral negotiations.

On Sunday, a day after his initial call, Mr Trump said that Thailand and Cambodia had agreed to meet to work out a ceasefire, and that Washington would not move ahead with tariff negotiations with both until the conflict had ended.

The source said as the Thai and Cambodian foreign ministries started talking, following Mr Trump’s call, Bangkok set out its terms: the meeting must be between the two prime ministers and at a neutral location.

On Monday, the peace deal was announced in Malaysia, with Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Manet standing alongside Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and Thai Acting Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai.

Pakistan said in June that it would recommend Mr Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize for his work in helping to resolve a conflict with India, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said last month he had nominated the US president for the award.

Reuters/ABC

Open this photo in gallery: Trump raved about the beauty of his new golf course as he teed off with golfers Paul McGinley and Rich Beem.Jacquelyn Martin/The Associated Press

U.S. President Donald Trump formally opened a new golf course at his sprawling property in Scotland on Tuesday, saying he would play a quick round before heading home to focus on addressing crises in the Middle East and elsewhere.

Trump, wrapping up a five-day visit to Scotland, was joined by former soccer players, golfers and business leaders for a first round of golf at his new second 18-hole course at Trump International near Aberdeen, Scotland.

Initially billed as a private visit, the trip quickly morphed into a diplomatic mission, including a trade agreement sealed with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, bilateral meetings with British officials and phone calls aimed at ending a nascent war between Cambodia and Thailand.

During a meeting with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Monday, Trump raised pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over a worsening hunger crisis in the war-torn Palestinian enclave of Gaza.

Asked at Tuesday’s event what he would say to Netanyahu, Trump said he was trying to get things “straightened out”.

Gaza famine reaches ‘alarming and deadly turning point,’ hunger monitor says

Trump, Starmer discuss Gaza food crisis, war in Ukraine during meeting at Turnberry

During his talks with Starmer, Trump said he disagreed with Netanyahu’s assessment there was no starvation in Gaza, while giving Russian President Vladimir Putin a much tighter deadline to make progress towards ending the war in Ukraine.

Flanked by his two sons, Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr., with several grandchildren nearby, Trump raved about the beauty of the new golf course in the dunes of northeastern Scotland, before teeing off.

“I look forward to playing it today. We’re going to play it very quickly, and then I go back to (Washington) D.C. and we put out fires all over the world,” he said at a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new course, alluding in part to a ceasefire between Thailand and Cambodia.

“We stopped a war – we’ve stopped about five wars. So that’s much more important than playing golf.”

U.S. President Donald Trump opened a new golf course bearing his name in Scotland on Tuesday, capping a five-day foreign trip designed around promoting his family’s luxury properties and playing golf. The Associated Press

Several nations have nominated Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize, a message endorsed by White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt in a social media post in recent days.

Golfers Paul McGinley and Rich Beem teed off with Trump and his son Eric, and an eclectic mix of notable figures followed.

Former Chelsea and A.C. Milan striker and top Ukraine goal-scorer Andriy Shevchenko, who is now the president of his country’s football association, was a guest, as were fellow ex-soccer players Robbie Fowler, Gianfranco Zola and Jim Leighton.

Scottish First Minister John Swinney, who met with Trump earlier on Tuesday, also attended, along with Adrian Mardell, the chief executive of Jaguar Land Rover, and Alastair King, the Lord Mayor of the City of London, who represents Britain’s finance industry.

President Donald Trump’s meeting with Sir Keir Starmer and Lady Victoria Starmer is currently underway in Turnberry, Scotland. Arriving to the sound of bagpipes with his wife, the UK PM was greeted by President Trump on the West Coast of Scotland.

Over the last few weeks, there have been several calls for President Trump to be nominated for a Nobel Price owing to his efforts to settle ongoing conflicts between multiple nations across the world.

Speaking about his peacemaking efforts while addressing reporters in Scotland on July 28, President Trump said: “We have many ceasefires going on. If I weren’t around, you’d have right now six major wars going on. India would be fighting with Pakistan.

“You see what we did just yesterday, with two nations that we’re trading with. And during the trade I said, I’m not going to do any trade deal unless you guys settle your differences. And we got it settled in 24 hours.

“Serbia-Kosovo is another one. We have many hotspots who were at war. I think a very big one was India and Pakistan, cause that’s.. you’re talking about two nuclear nations. That was a very big one.”

Image: Getty Images) Getty Images)

The United States president added: “And we get help from the UK. The Prime Minister’s help. We have cases where we specifically need the help, because somebody comes from here, that you’re aware of, and you know when you come from a country, you can do things. I call up the PM and all of a sudden he’s able to do things. True also with other Presidents and Prime Ministers. Nobody’s ever done what we’ve done.”

Just today, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim announced an official ceasefire between Thailand and Cambodia, ending a deadly border conflict that has killed at least 35 people and displaced over 270,000 from both sides of the border.

The two nations have agreed to an “immediate and unconditional” ceasefire, effective at midnight (17:00 GMT). The breakthrough came after acting Thai Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet held talks on July 28 at Anwar’s official residence in Putrajaya, Malaysia’s administrative capital.

Following the ceasefire announcement, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt took to X (formerly Twitter) and wrote: “President Trump made this happen. Give him the Nobel Peace Prize!”

On July 7, during a White House meeting, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu informed President Trump that he had nominated him for the Nobel Peace Prize, handing him the nomination letter.

At the start of the meeting, Israel’s Prime Minister handed the US President a letter he said he had submitted to the Nobel Peace Prize committee, praising President Trump’s efforts to resolve conflicts in the Middle East. Before presenting the letter, Netanyahu said: “I want to express the appreciation and admiration not only of all Israelis, but of the Jewish people. You deserve it.”

To which President Trump replied: “Coming from you in particular, this is very meaningful.

It marked the US president’s second high-profile nomination; just last month, Pakistan announced it would recommend Trump for the prize, after Trump claimed the ceasefire between India-Pakistan was reached due to his peacemaking efforts.

A Cambodian military vehicle carries a rocket launcher in Oddar Meanchey province, Cambodia. (AP pic)

UNITED NATIONS : Cambodia wants an “immediate ceasefire” with Thailand, the country’s envoy to the UN said Friday, after the neighbours traded deadly strikes for a second day, with Bangkok also signalling an openness to talks.

A long-running border dispute erupted into intense fighting with jets, artillery, tanks and ground troops on Thursday, prompting the UN Security Council to hold an emergency meeting on the crisis Friday.

“Cambodia asked for an immediate ceasefire – unconditionally – and we also call for the peaceful solution of the dispute,” said Phnom Penh’s UN ambassador Chhea Keo following a closed meeting of the council attended by Cambodia and Thailand.

A steady thump of artillery strikes could be heard from the Cambodian side of the border Friday, where the province of Oddar Meanchey reported one civilian – a 70-year-old man – had been killed and five more wounded.

More than 138,000 people have been evacuated from Thailand’s border regions, its health ministry said, reporting 15 fatalities – 14 civilians and a soldier – with a further 46 wounded, including 15 troops.

Fighting resumed in three areas around 4am on Friday (2100 GMT Thursday), the Thai army said, with Cambodian forces firing heavy weapons, field artillery, and BM-21 rocket systems, and Thai troops responding “with appropriate supporting fire”.

Thai foreign ministry spokesman Nikorndej Balankura told AFP that fighting had begun to ease off by Friday afternoon, however, adding that Bangkok was open to talks, possibly aided by Malaysia.

“We are ready, if Cambodia would like to settle this matter via diplomatic channels, bilaterally, or even through Malaysia, we are ready to do that. But so far we have not had any response,” Nikorndej told AFP, speaking before the UN meeting had been held.

Malaysia currently holds the chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) regional bloc, of which Thailand and Cambodia are both members.

Earlier, acting Thai Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai had warned that if the situation escalated, “it could develop into war.”

“For now, it remains limited to clashes,” he told reporters in Bangkok.

Ongoing dispute

Both sides blamed each other for firing first, while Thailand accused Cambodia of targeting civilian infrastructure, including a hospital hit by shells and a petrol station hit by at least one rocket.

At the UN, Cambodia’s envoy questioned Thailand’s assertion that his country, which is smaller and less militarily developed than its neighbour, had initiated the conflict.

“(The Security Council) called for both parties to (show) maximum restraint and resort to a diplomatic solution. That is what we are calling for as well,” said Chhea Keo.

None of the other attendees of the UNSC meeting spoke to reporters.

The fighting marks a dramatic escalation in a long-running dispute between the neighbours – both popular destinations for millions of foreign tourists – over their shared 800km (500-mile) border.

Dozens of kilometres in several areas are contested, and fighting broke out between 2008 and 2011, leaving at least 28 people dead and tens of thousands displaced.

A UN court ruling in 2013 settled the matter for over a decade, but the current crisis erupted in May when a Cambodian soldier was killed in a new clash.

‘We are scared’

Fighting on Thursday was focused on six locations, according to the Thai army, including around two ancient temples.

Ground troops backed up by tanks battled for control of territory, while Cambodia fired rockets and shells into Thailand, and the Thais scrambled F-16 jets to hit military targets across the border.

In the Cambodian town of Samraong, 20km (12 miles) from the border, AFP journalists saw families speeding away in vehicles with their children and belongings as gunfire erupted.

“I live very close to the border. We are scared,” Pro Bak, 41, told AFP.

He was taking his wife and children to a Buddhist temple to seek refuge.

LONDON — In case anyone believes President Donald Trump has revised his policy toward Vladimir Putin’s war on Ukraine, don’t be fooled.

True, the president is piqued because Putin refuses to agree to Trump’s Nobel Peace Prize plan for a ceasefire with Ukraine. The Russian leader has been deluging Ukraine’s cities with drones and missiles despite a half dozen phone calls from Trump, with the biggest barrage right after the U.S. leader hung up from the last call.

Trump finally seems to grasp that Putin is making a fool of him in the eyes of the entire world. But the president’s much-awaited “big announcement” on Ukraine gave Putin another dangerous pass.

After repeatedly announcing and then ignoring his previous deadlines, Trump issued yet another, declaiming that unless Putin agreed to a ceasefire in 50 days, he would impose “severe” tariffs on Moscow. Tough talk, but the United States does almost no trade with Russia, so the threat of tariffs is meaningless — even if this time, Trump takes his own deadline seriously.

Moreover, Russia is in the midst of a furious summer offensive, trying to destroy Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure and break the country’s morale in the next couple of months. So a 50-day time frame, backed by a threat the Kremlin knows is meaningless, gives Putin a green light to pour it on.

Now, Trump indicates he might support a languishing Senate bill, with 85 Republican and Democratic sponsors, to impose secondary sanctions on countries that purchase Russian energy. Passage of the Senate bill, with Trump’s blessing, would allow him to claim he was acting tough when, in reality, he was still permitting Putin to ravage Ukraine.

But again, reality bites. Trump has insisted the bill include a carve-out that allows him to choose whether to sanction Russia at all. And he has told GOP senators to pause their sanctions bill for 50 days to see if his threats will scare Putin, an ex-KGB colonel who knows well that if Trump really wanted to sanction Russia further, he could do it on his own.

The only good news is that, despite refusing to permit new U.S. aid for Ukraine, Trump now says he will allow NATO countries to purchase U.S.-made weapons to pass on to Kyiv. This way, he can claim he is doing business, even as he refuses to recognize the moral and strategic imperative of preventing the Kremlin from destroying Ukraine.

Here, too, there is less to this “reversal” than meets the eye.

Kyiv desperately needs certain key weapons systems immediately to blunt Russia’s summer offensive. Prime among them are air defenses, especially Patriot systems, as well as the interceptor missiles they fire. Kyiv has only eight to 10 of the systems and needs another 10 or so to save its civilian infrastructure. The Patriots are the only means to defend against Russian ballistic missiles that are striking Ukraine’s cities every day.

A meager 30 interceptor missiles, part of a package agreed and financed under President Joe Biden, were recently halted by order of the Pentagon when they were already in transit. Under pressure, Trump supposedly countermanded that order with great fanfare. But, in reality, only 10 missiles will be delivered, barely enough for a couple of weeks. As for letting the Europeans purchase more urgently needed Patriot systems for Kyiv, here, too, the prospects are still dicey.

To sum up, it is a good thing that, after cutting off new U.S. weapons delivery to Ukraine, Trump has finally been moved by Putin’s insults to green light deliveries of U.S. weapons via NATO — so long as the Europeans pay. But the need for those weapons deliveries — especially the Patriot systems and interceptor missiles — is right now.

Moreover, the president still refuses to recognize that Putin has no interest whatsoever in a ceasefire or peace talks if they don’t include Ukraine’s surrender to Moscow’s control. The Russian leader will never come to the table unless the cost of the war becomes too high politically and economically for the Kremlin to bear.

Trudy Rubin is a columnist and editorial-board member for The Philadelphia Inquirer.