STORY: Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a U.S.-brokered peace agreement on Friday (August 8) during a meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump that would boost bilateral economic ties after decades of conflict.

The deal between the South Caucasus rivals - assuming it holds - would be a significant accomplishment for the Trump administration that is sure to rattle Moscow, which sees the region as within its sphere of influence.

"It's a long time - 35 years - they fought and now they're friends, and they're going to be friends for a long time," Trump said at a signing ceremony at the White House, where he was flanked by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.

Armenia and Azerbaijan have been at odds since the late 1980s when Nagorno-Karabakh, a mountainous Azerbaijani region mostly populated by ethnic Armenians, broke away from Azerbaijan with support from Armenia. Azerbaijan took back full control of the region in 2023, prompting almost all of the territory's 100,000 ethnic Armenians to flee to Armenia.

Trump said the two countries had committed to stop fighting, open up diplomatic relations and respect each other's territorial integrity.

The agreement includes exclusive U.S. development rights to a strategic transit corridor through the South Caucasus that the White House said would facilitate greater exports of energy and other resources.

Trump said the United States signed separate deals with each country to expand cooperation on energy, trade and technology, including artificial intelligence.

He said restrictions had also been lifted on defense cooperation between Azerbaijan and the United States.

Both leaders praised Trump for helping to end the conflict and said they would nominate him for the Nobel Peace Prize. "So who if not President Trump deserves the Nobel Peace Prize?" Aliyev said.

Trump has tried to present himself as a global peacemaker in the first months of his second term. The White House credits him with brokering a ceasefire between Cambodia and Thailand and sealing peace deals between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Pakistan and India.

However, he has not managed to end Russia's war in Ukraine or Israel's conflict with Hamas in Gaza.

U.S. officials said the agreement was hammered out during repeated visits to the region and would provide a basis for working toward a full normalization between the countries.

Senior administration officials told reporters the agreement marked the first end to several frozen conflicts on Russia's periphery since the end of the Cold War and said it would send a powerful signal to the entire region.

The peace deal could transform the South Caucasus, an energy-producing region neighboring Russia, Europe, Turkey and Iran that is criss-crossed by oil and gas pipelines but riven by closed borders and longstanding ethnic conflicts.

Armenia plans to award the U.S. exclusive special development rights for an extended period on the transit corridor, administration officials told Reuters this week. The so-called Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity has already drawn interest from nine companies, including three U.S. firms, one official said on condition of anonymity.

Daphne Panayotatos, with the Washington-based rights group Freedom Now, said it has urged the Trump administration to use the meeting with Aliyev to demand the release of some 375 political prisoners held in the country.

Azerbaijan, an oil-producing country that hosted the United Nations climate summit last November, has rejected Western criticism of its human rights record, describing it as unacceptable interference.

DESCRIPCIÓN DE IMÁGENES

SHOWS: WASHINGTON, D.C., UNITED STATES (AUGUST 8, 2025) (UNRESTRICTED POOL – Access all)

1. VARIOUS OF U.S. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF AZERBAIJAN ILHAM ALIYEV, AND PRIME MINISTER OF ARMENIA NIKOL PASHINYAN TAKING THEIR SEATS AT SIGNING TABLE

2. (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S. PRESIDENT, DONALD TRUMP, SAYING:

“It's a long time, 35 years they fought and now they're friends. And they're going to be friends for a long time. But it's a big, beautiful honor to welcome everyone to the White House for this very historic peace summit between Armenia and Azerbaijan. It's really a great thrill for me. I love seeing good people get together. And that's what you have. You have two great leaders. I want to congratulate these two visionary people. Prime Minister Pashinyan and President Aliyev.”

3. TRUMP SPEAKING (NOT A SOUNDBITE)

4. (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S. PRESIDENT, DONALD TRUMP, SAYING:

“This declaration establishes what they are calling, a great honor for me, I didn't ask for this, the ‘Trump route for international peace and prosperity’, which is a special transit area that will allow Azerbaijan to get full access to its territory of Nakhchivan while fully respecting Armenia's sovereignty.”

5. TRUMP SPEAKING

6. (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S. PRESIDENT, DONALD TRUMP, SAYING:

“We're also lifting restrictions on defense cooperation between Azerbaijan and the United States of America. The President, that's a big deal, is that important to you? I think so. It was pretty good, they were very happy about that. So am I. As president, my highest aspiration is to bring peace and stability to the world.”

7. TRUMP ASKING ALIYEV TO SPEAK

8. (SOUNDBITE) (English) PRESIDENT OF AZERBAIJAN, ILHAM ALIYEV, SAYING:

“I'm very grateful to Mr. President (Trump) that he today lifted the restrictions which been imposed on Azerbaijan back in 1992. Just only one year after Azerbaijan restored its independence. These restrictions have been imposed on us. So after 33 years, these restrictions have been lifted. Just today. So really, it's a day which will be remembered by the people of Azerbaijan with a feeling of pride and gratitude to President Trump for his attitude to Azerbaijan, for his vision for not only for our region.”

9. ALIYEV SPEAKING (NOT A SOUNDBITE)

10. (SOUNDBITE) (English) PRESIDENT OF AZERBAIJAN, ILHAM ALIYEV, SAYING:

“I'm sure that Armenia and Azerbaijan will find courage and responsibility to reconcile. And also the people will reconcile. We will turn the page on standoff, confrontation and bloodshed and provide bright and safe future for our children. So I am very happy.”

11. EVENT IN PROGRESS, TRUMP ASKING PASHINYAN TO SPEAK

12. (SOUNDBITE) (English) PRIME MINISTER OF ARMENIA, NIKOL PASHINYAN, SAYING:

“I want to thank President Trump and his team for brokering this game changing outcome between Armenia and Azerbaijan. This is a great deal we've achieved today. This is a success for our countries and for our region and a success for the world, because a more peaceful region means a safer world.”

13. ATTENDEES APPLAUDING

14. ALIYEV AND PASHINYAN STANDING UP, SHAKING HANDS WITH TRUMP, TAKING THEIR SEATS AGAIN FOR SIGNING

15. VARIOUS OF ALIYEV, TRUMP AND PASHINYAN SIGNING JOINT DECLARATION, SHOWING SIGNATURES

16. TRUMP SPEAKING (NOT A SOUNDBITE)

17. MEDIA LISTENING TO TRUMP

18. (SOUNDBITE) (English) PRIME MINISTER OF ARMENIA, NIKOL PASHINYAN, SAYING:

“I think President Trump deserved to have Nobel Peace Prize and we will defend that. And we will promote for that.”

19. (SOUNDBITE) (English) PRESIDENT OF AZERBAIJAN, ILHAM ALIYEV, SAYING:

“So who, if not President Trump, deserves the Nobel Peace Prize? I don't want to go into the history of some very strange decisions of the Nobel Peace Committee to award the prize for someone who didn't do anything at all. But President Trump in six months did a miracle. So I think that my Armenian colleague will support it. And judging by the reaction of the audience, I think as soon as we come back, we will agree to issue a joint letter. And hopefully, and I also joined when president is awarded, we hope that he will invite us to the ceremony.”

TRUMP: “You certainly will be. Thank you very much.”

PASHINYAN: “Do we have a draft to sign now?” / ATTENDEES LAUGHING

20. ATTENDEES LISTENING TO TRUMP SPEAKING (NOT A SOUNDBITE)

21. TRUMP SHAKING HANDS WITH ALIYEV, THEN WITH PASHINYAN

22. PASHINYAN, TRUMP AND ALIYEV LEAVING TABLE