The winner of the Nobel Peace Prize called Donald Trump a moron two days ago

The winner of the Nobel Peace Prize called Donald Trump a moron two days before being awarded the prestigious accolade.

Beatrice Fihn, the Executive Director of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (Ican), tweeted the statement on 4 October.

In response to the tweet another user asked: ‘Did Rex Tillerson hack your account?’, referring to the accusation that the U.S. Secretary of State of state used the same insult against the President this week.

Ms Fihn replied: ‘I guess it’s the first time I wholeheartedly support a statement by him!’

When asked about the tweet in a press conference today Ms Fihn said she was making a joke ‘which I kind of regret now’.

In an exchange with Jon Wolfstahl, Former Special Assistant to the President for National Security, Ms Fihn said that ‘the world is closer to a nuclear war than in a long time’ and that ‘[the U.S.] government & North Korea are threatening to use nuclear weapons on civilians’.

Ican said today that Mr Trump appears to be ignoring expert opinion. Ms Fihn said Trump’s election ‘has made a lot of people feel very uncomfortable with the fact that he alone can authorise the use of nuclear weapons’ and that the President has a record of ‘not listening to expertise.’

Ican was awarded the 2017 prize by the Nobel committee, hailing the campaign ‘for its work to draw attention to the catastrophic humanitarian consequences of any use of nuclear weapons and for its ground-breaking efforts to achieve a treaty-based prohibition of such weapons’.

The Nobel statement, read by committee chairwoman Berit Reiss-Andersen, said ‘through its inspiring and innovative support for the UN negotiations on a treaty banning nuclear weapons, Ican has played a major part in bringing about what in our day and age is equivalent to an international peace congress’.

The Nobel committee, meeting in Norway’s capital Oslo, also called on existing nuclear nations to take steps to eliminate their nuclear arsenals.

The committee sorted through more than 300 nominations for this year’s award, which recognises both accomplishments and intentions.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee does not release names of those it considers for the prize, but said 215 individuals and 103 organisations were nominated.

Syrian volunteer humanitarian organisation White Helmets had been seen as a top contender, along with Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini for shepherding the deal to curb Iran’s nuclear programme.

U.S. media reports today claim that Donald Trump is planning to abandon the nuclear deal with Iran, which could lead to Congress re-imposing economic sanctions on the country.

Yahoo News UK has contacted Ms Fihn for a comment