WASHINGTON — The leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan shook fingers as they joined President Donald Trump on the White Home on Friday for a peace summit the place they signed an settlement geared toward ending many years of battle.
The 2 nations within the South Caucasus signed agreements with one another and the U.S. that can reopen key transportation routes whereas permitting the U.S. to grab on Russia’s declining affect within the area. The deal consists of an settlement that can create a serious transit hall to be named the Trump Route for Worldwide Peace and Prosperity, the White Home mentioned.
Trump mentioned on the White Home on Friday that naming the route after him was “an amazing honor for me” however “I did not ask for this.”
President Donald Trump, middle, sits with Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev, left, and Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, Friday, Aug. 8, 2025, on the at White Home.
AP Photograph/Mark Schiefelbein
A senior administration official, on a name earlier than the occasion with reporters, mentioned it was the Armenians who steered the identify.
On the peace summit on Friday, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev mentioned the transit hall will “create connectivity alternatives for therefore many nations.”
“We’re beginning the trail towards strategic partnership,” he mentioned.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan referred to as the settlement a “important milestone.”
“We’re laying a basis to write down a greater story than the one we had previously,” Pashinyan mentioned.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, proper, and Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan pose for a photograph previous to their talks in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
Azerbaijani Presidential Press Workplace by way of AP
Each leaders mentioned the breakthrough was made potential by Trump and his workforce and joined a rising record of international leaders and different officers who’ve mentioned the U.S. chief ought to obtain a Nobel Peace Prize -something he has coveted.
“President Trump in six months did a miracle,” Aliyev mentioned.
Trump remarked on how lengthy the battle went on between the 2 nations and mentioned of the settlement, “Thirty-five years they fought and now they’re mates and they will be mates a very long time.”
That route will join Azerbaijan and its autonomous Nakhchivan exclave, that are separated by a 32-kilometer-wide (20-mile-wide) patch of Armenian territory. The demand from Azerbaijan had held up peace talks previously.
Trump indicated he’d like to go to the route in some unspecified time in the future, saying, “We will need to recover from there.”
“The roadmap they’re agreeing to will construct a cooperative future that advantages each nations, their area of the South Caucasus and past,” White Home spokeswoman Anna Kelly mentioned Friday. She added that the brand new transit hall will “enable unimpeded connectivity between the 2 nations whereas respecting Armenia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and its individuals.”
Requested how he feels about lasting peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan, Trump mentioned “very assured” as he welcomed each leaders to the White Home on Friday afternoon.
Friday’s signing provides to the handful of peace and financial agreements brokered this yr by the U.S., whereas Trump has made no secret of his want to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his function in serving to to ease long-running conflicts throughout the globe.
The peace deal between the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda helped finish the decadeslong battle in japanese Congo, and the U.S. mediated a ceasefire between India and Pakistan, whereas Trump intervened in clashes between Cambodia and Thailand by threatening to withhold commerce agreements with each nations if their preventing continued. But peace offers in Gaza and Ukraine have been elusive.
US takes benefit of Russia’s waning affect
The signing of a deal between Armenia and Azerbaijan, each former Soviet republics, additionally strikes a geopolitical blow to their former imperial grasp, Russia. All through the practically four-decade battle, Moscow performed mediator to increase its clout within the strategic South Caucasus area, however its affect waned rapidly after it launched the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The Trump-brokered deal would enable the U.S. to deepen its attain within the area as Moscow retreats, senior U.S. administration officers mentioned.
The Trump administration started participating with Armenia and Azerbaijan in earnest earlier this yr, when Trump’s key diplomatic envoy, Steve Witkoff, met with Aliyev in Baku and began to debate what a senior administration official referred to as a “regional reset.”
Negotiations over who will develop the Trump Route – which is able to ultimately embody a rail line, oil and fuel strains, and fiber optic strains – will doubtless start subsequent week, and no less than 9 builders have expressed curiosity already, in line with the senior administration official, who briefed reporters on situation of anonymity.
Separate from the joint settlement, each Armenia and Azerbaijan signed offers with the USA meant to bolster cooperation in vitality, expertise and the economic system, the White Home mentioned.
Trump previewed a lot of Friday’s plan in a social media put up Thursday night, during which he mentioned the agreements would “absolutely unlock the potential” of the South Caucasus area.
“Many Leaders have tried to finish the Struggle, with no success, till now, because of ‘TRUMP,'” Trump mentioned on his Reality Social web site.
Trump, Pashinyan and Aliyev gathered for the signing ceremony within the State Eating Room. That peace declaration was the primary signed by each Armenia and Azerbaijan because the finish of the Chilly Struggle, in line with the administration.
Among the many paperwork that that was set to be signed was a letter that asks the Group for Safety and Cooperation in Europe to dissolve its Minsk Group, established within the Nineteen Nineties and co-chaired by Russia, France and the U.S. to mediate the Armenia-Azerbaijan battle. The White Home mentioned Friday that the group is not related.
The Armenia-Azerbaijan battle has lasted for many years
The 2 nations had been locked in battle for practically 4 many years as they fought for management of the Karabakh area, recognized internationally as Nagorno-Karabakh.
The world was largely populated by Armenians throughout the Soviet period however is situated inside Azerbaijan. The 2 nations battled for management of the area by a number of violent clashes that left tens of hundreds of individuals lifeless over the many years, all whereas worldwide mediation efforts failed.
Most lately, Azerbaijan reclaimed all of Karabakh in 2023 and had been in talks with Armenia to normalize ties. Azerbaijan’s insistence on a land bridge to Nakhchivan had been a serious sticking level, as a result of whereas Azerbaijan didn’t belief Armenia to manage the so-called Zangezur hall, Armenia resisted management by a 3rd occasion as a result of it seen it as a breach of sovereignty.
However the prospect of nearer ties with the USA, in addition to with the ability to transfer out and in of the landlocked nation extra freely with out having to entry Georgia or Iran, helped entice Armenia on the broader settlement, in line with U.S. officers.
In the meantime, Russia stood again when Azerbaijan reclaimed management of Karabakh within the September 2023 offensive, angering Armenia, which has moved to shed Russian affect and switch westward. Azerbaijan, emboldened by its victory in Karabakh, additionally has develop into more and more defiant in its relations with Moscow.
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