Trump to oversee Armenia-Azerbaijan peace deal

United States President Donald Trump has announced that he will host a “historic peace summit” at the White House, bringing together the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan, according to Al Jazeera via the Associated Press, on August 8th.

On August 8th, President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan and Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan of Armenia are scheduled to meet with Trump for an official “peace signing ceremony.”

Trump explained that “These two Nations have been at War for many years, resulting in the deaths of thousands of people. Many Leaders have tried to end the War, with no success, until now.” The move comes as part of wider efforts by Trump to reassert his influence in international diplomacy, including attempts to broker peace between Ukraine and Russia.

The summit represents the culmination of months of diplomatic efforts led by the Trump administration. Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, was dispatched to the region in March to help accelerate negotiations.

The conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan stems from the long-disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh. The area broke away from Azerbaijan in the late 1980s with support from Armenia, becoming a major flashpoint in the South Caucasus.

A full-scale war followed in the early 1990s, resulting in thousands of casualties. While fighting eventually subsided, tensions lingered for decades.

Renewed hostilities erupted in 2020 when Azerbaijan launched a military operation to retake Nagorno-Karabakh. In September 2023, Azerbaijan reasserted control, prompting the departure of nearly all of the territory’s 100,000 ethnic Armenian residents into Armenia.

Last month, the two leaders held talks in Abu Dhabi, however those discussions failed to produce a breakthrough.

Now, an agreement brokered in Washington is expected to mark a significant turning point. According to US officials, the deal includes the creation of a strategic transit corridor across the South Caucasus. The corridor would connect Azerbaijan to its Nakhchivan exclave by crossing a 32-kilometre stretch of Armenian territory.

The planned route will include railway infrastructure, energy pipelines, and fibre-optic links—aimed at boosting trade, transportation, and broader regional ties. Given Azerbaijan’s status as a major oil producer, the corridor is seen as especially strategic for regional energy exports.

US officials say the United States will receive leasing rights to develop the route, which is to be named the “Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity.”

Al Jazeera via Associated Press, Maghrebi.org