Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a U.S.-brokered peace agreement Friday at the White House, ending decades of hostilities and committing to expanded bilateral economic ties. President Trump hosted the signing alongside Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.
Trump hailed the breakthrough as the end of a 35-year conflict, saying both nations would now “be friends for a long time.” The dispute began in the late 1980s over Nagorno-Karabakh, a majority-Armenian region that broke away from Azerbaijan with Armenia’s backing. Azerbaijan regained full control of the territory in 2023, triggering the mass departure of nearly all of its ethnic Armenian residents.
Under the deal, both countries agreed to cease hostilities, establish diplomatic relations, and recognize each other’s territorial integrity. Separate agreements were also signed to expand cooperation on energy, trade, and technology, including artificial intelligence. Restrictions on U.S.-Azerbaijan defense cooperation have been lifted.
Aliyev and Pashinyan credited Trump with ending the conflict and said they would nominate him for the Nobel Peace Prize. U.S. officials said the agreement was the product of repeated regional visits and marked the first resolution of multiple frozen conflicts on Russia’s periphery since the Cold War.
Armenia will grant the United States long-term exclusive development rights to the transit route, dubbed the “Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity,” which has already drawn interest from nine companies, including three American firms.
