Generations of diplomats dismissed decades of bitter conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia as insoluble.
That ended when President Donald Trump returned to office.
Thanks to the president’s bold, visionary leadership, today marks one year since the Joint Declaration of Peace was signed between these two nations, which ended more than 35 years of bloodshed — an accomplishment nothing short of remarkable.
As the president’s special envoy for peace missions, it has been my honor to advance the president’s agenda of peace in global conflicts. The president looked beyond what his predecessors deemed impossible when he made peace between Azerbaijan and Armenia a priority. These countries have both lost thousands of lives over many years. Our involvement began in March 2025 with a trip to Baku. It was clear from this first engagement that America’s relationship with Azerbaijan — and with its President, Ilham Aliyev — had not received the attention it deserved.
Trump’s foreign policy doctrine is unique in that he is willing to look anyone in the eye to advance American interests, including bringing peace to decadeslong conflicts around the world. This case was no exception.
Azerbaijan’s president was a strong, decisive leader prepared to make the hard choices necessary for peace, yet weak leaders like those in the previous administration had allowed ties to atrophy. President Aliyev impressed us as a man who understands both his nation’s interests and the broader stakes of regional stability. That visit convinced our team that with the right approach, progress was possible.
Likewise, in Armenia, we were pleased to find a pragmatic and courageous leader in Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan — a man capable of making decisions in the best interest of his people, even when the initial perception would be unpopular.
Over the subsequent five months, we engaged in intensive, back-and-forth meetings in both Baku and Yerevan. This shuttle diplomacy revealed a core truth: The conflict needed to be viewed through a different lens.
Practical challenges, especially Azerbaijan’s need for unobstructed access to its Nakhchivan exclave, had long been treated as zero-sum territorial disputes. What was required was not another round of tired formulas, but fresh thinking, creative solutions, and, above all, leadership.
That leadership came first and foremost from Trump, whose return to office created the decisive opening.
The result was the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity framework: the United States partnering with Armenia to establish unobstructed, multimodal paths across Armenia while fully preserving Armenian territorial integrity and sovereignty.
Trump unstuck a problem that had befuddled diplomats for decades by insisting on practical outcomes over performative process. That approach paid off. The two nations’ leaders have now signed two monumental documents in their countries’ storied histories.
The first is the joint declaration that set their peoples on a path toward permanent peace, economic cooperation, and full normalization. The second is their joint nomination of Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize, marking the first time leaders of formerly warring nations have coordinated to nominate their mediator.
Today, the TRIPP concept has gained worldwide recognition as a model for resolving intractable disputes through creativity, strength, and mutual interest rather than endless negotiation.
Over the past year, the U.S. has worked with Armenia and Azerbaijan to make the agreement into a physical reality through railroad engineering surveys, public-private coordination, and capital investment mechanisms. We anticipate TRIPP extending across the Caspian Sea and the concept taking shape in the Middle East as well.
In an era of challenging conflicts across multiple regions, Trump remains uniquely positioned to impose order on chaos and to forge peace and prosperity where others see only impasse.
AZERBAIJAN ISN’T ARMING TO INVADE ARMENIA — IT’S ARMING TO SURVIVE RUSSIA AND IRAN
The South Caucasus is safer, more prosperous, and more stable today because Trump, Aliyev, and Pashinyan chose results over rhetoric. And thanks to the president’s efforts, nine wars around the world have been solved, the Board of Peace is operational, and over 100 Americans detained abroad have been returned home. His approach is bearing fruit in additional conflicts as well, such as the war between Russia and Ukraine. Leaders from both sides came together for historic trilateral talks, mediated by the U.S., after years of bloodshed, and have exchanged hundreds of prisoners of war.
The President’s approach — rooted in realism, deal-making, and an insistence on tangible results — offers a proven alternative to the failures of previous decades. The results speak for themselves.
Steve Witkoff is the U.S. special envoy for peace missions.