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United States President Donald Trump said Friday that Armenia and Azerbaijan have committed to a permanent peace as he hosted the leaders of the two South Caucasus nations at a White House summit.
“Armenia and Azerbaijan are committing to stop all fighting forever, open up commerce, travel and diplomatic relations, and respect each other’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” Trump said.
The U.S. president also announced that he was lifting restrictions on military cooperation with Azerbaijan.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev attended what Trump called a “historic peace summit.”
While the full details of the agreement were not immediately released, Trump added the deal to a growing list of U.S.-brokered initiatives that he believes merit a Nobel Peace Prize. “Many leaders have tried to end the war, with no success, until now, thanks to ‘TRUMP,’” he wrote on Truth Social.
Armenia and Azerbaijan have fought over borders and ethnic enclaves for decades. The two former Soviet republics went to war twice over the Karabakh region, which Azerbaijan recaptured from Armenian forces in a 2023 offensive that prompted more than 100,000 ethnic Armenians to flee.
The countries had agreed on a comprehensive peace deal in March, but Azerbaijan later introduced new demands, including constitutional amendments in Armenia to drop territorial claims to Karabakh. Pashinyan has announced plans for a constitutional referendum in 2027, though the issue remains contentious in Armenia.
White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said Friday the countries would sign a joint declaration establishing a transit corridor between mainland Azerbaijan and its exclave of Nakhchivan — a long-standing demand of Baku. The United States will hold development rights for the corridor, dubbed the “Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity” (TRIPP), she said.
The leaders were also expected to sign a letter formally requesting the dissolution of the Minsk Group, a mediation body under the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe that is now considered defunct. The White House did not clarify how the agreement fits into the broader comprehensive deal.
Both nations were also due to sign separate economic agreements with the United States. “Armenia walks out of this with an enormous strategic commercial partner, probably the most enormous and strategic in the history of the world: the United States of America,” a White House official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. “The losers here are China, Russia, and Iran.”
Meanwhile, Trump has repeatedly touted his diplomatic achievements in resolving conflicts, citing his role in easing tensions between Cambodia and Thailand and between India and Pakistan.
At the signing ceremony, both Pashinyan and Aliyev suggested jointly appealing to the Nobel committee to award Trump the Peace Prize. “From the leaders of the countries which were at war for more than three decades, having this historic signature here really means a lot,” Aliyev said.
On Thursday, Cambodia’s prime minister announced he had nominated Trump for the award.
Despite the summit’s breakthroughs, Trump’s efforts have yet to end the Russia-Ukraine war or address the hunger crisis in Gaza amid Israel’s ongoing military offensive.
A lasting Armenia-Azerbaijan peace deal would mark a significant geopolitical shift in a region where Russia, the European Union, the United States, and Türkiye compete for influence.
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