Reactions to President Obama's Nobel Prize win

Early this morning, President Obama was woken with news that he is the recipient of this year's Nobel Peace Prize, elliciting various reactions from world leaders.

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak was the first to congratulate the President, saying:

"I believe the Nobel Prize will empower President Barack Obama in his efforts to bring regional peace to the Middle East, as well as to an agreement between ourselves and the Palestinians, resulting in peace and prosperity for all the nations in the region."

Israeli President Shimon Peres sent a letter to Obama this morning, congratulating him on his win.

"There are few leaders who have managed to change the atmosphere in the world in such a short time," he said.

"Under your leadership you have begun making peace a reality and making it a key issue on the agenda, which must be realized. From Jerusalem I express my confidence that the bells of understanding and dialogue between the nations will start ringing again."

Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said the following:

"We hope that he will be able to achieve peace in the Middle East and achieve Israeli withdrawal to 1967 borders and establish an independent Palestinian state on 1967 borders, with Jerusalem as its capital."

Laura Rozen at Politico highlights reactions from other leaders, including an aide to Iranian President Ahmadinejad and French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who was also a nominee for the prestigious prize.

FRENCH PRESIDENT NICOLAS SARKOZY: The Nobel Committee has recognised President Obama's "determined commitment to human rights, justice and the promotion of peace in the world, in accordance with the will of founder Albert Nobel". The prize "does justice to your vision of tolerance and dialogue between states, cultures and civilisations".

ALI AKABR JAVANFEKR, AIDE TO IRANIAN PRESIDENT MAHMOUD AHMADINEJAD: We hope that this gives him the incentive to walk in the path of bringing justice to the world order. We are not upset and we hope that by receiving this prize he will start taking practical steps to remove injustice in the world.

Read other reactions here.