Armenia and Azerbaijan took a significant step toward ending decades of conflict on Friday, signing a peace declaration at the White House in Washington, D.C. The ceremony, attended by Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, and U.S. President Donald Trump, marked the signing of a “memorandum of understanding” aimed at halting the long-standing hostilities between the two nations. While the full text of the declaration remains largely confidential, it includes the creation of the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity (TRIPP), a new corridor linking Azerbaijan to its exclave of Nakhchivan and onward to Turkey via southern Armenia.
The TRIPP corridor, running through Armenia’s Syunik Province, grants the United States 99-year leasing rights, placing U.S. assets directly on Iran’s northern border. The corridor is planned to include railway lines, oil and gas pipelines, and fiber optic cables, opening new opportunities for regional trade and strategic infrastructure. For Washington, this is seen as a major geopolitical victory, strengthening its influence in the South Caucasus and limiting Russian and Iranian leverage in the region.
Although the declaration calls for a complete cessation of hostilities and establishes diplomatic relations between Yerevan and Baku, it falls short of a full peace treaty. Some of Azerbaijan’s demands, such as constitutional changes in Armenia removing references to the unification with Nagorno-Karabakh, were not addressed. However, the agreement does reopen borders for commerce and travel and includes a commitment to request the dissolution of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s (OSCE) Minsk Group, which had mediated the conflict since the 1990s.
The deal also signals a realignment in Armenia’s foreign policy. By cooperating with Azerbaijan and Turkey, Pashinyan’s government may be moving away from Moscow’s orbit. With a U.S.-controlled corridor now in place, the agreement could disrupt Russian and Iranian plans for the North-South Transit Corridor, in which Armenia was once a key proposed route. This development could significantly alter the balance of power in the South Caucasus for years to come.