US President Donald Trump will host Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev at the White House on Friday to sign a US-brokered peace agreement creating a transit corridor at Iran’s doorstep, Axios reported.
The deal seeks to end decades of conflict between the two countries and includes a 43.5-kilometer corridor across Armenian territory, Axios reported. The route, to be developed by the United States and called the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity, will connect Azerbaijan’s mainland with its Nakhchivan exclave, which borders Iran and Turkey.
Armenia and Azerbaijan have fought over Nagorno-Karabakh since the late 1980s, most recently in 2023 when Azerbaijan seized the territory. The corridor would enable travel and trade between Turkey, Azerbaijan and Central Asia without crossing Iran or Russia. Iran has opposed the project, saying it would cut off its only direct land route to Armenia and reduce its influence in the South Caucasus. Russia has also criticized it, while Turkey supports it.
Washington’s quiet diplomacy
Axios said the Trump administration’s work began in March when White House special envoy Steve Witkoff visited Baku after a trip to Moscow at Qatar’s request. According to a US official who spoke to Axios, Witkoff then asked Aryeh Lightstone, a former aide to US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman and close to Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, to lead the talks. Lightstone made five trips to the region to negotiate with both sides.
The same US official told Axios that negotiators pitched Pashinyan on the idea that by allowing a US-developed route, Armenia would gain a strong partner in Washington and a safeguard against future pressure from Baku. Armenia dropped its long-standing objection to the corridor during these talks.
Geopolitical and economic stakes
The route is expected to boost regional trade by billions of dollars a year, US officials told Axios. It would also limit the role of Russia and Iran, whose influence in the South Caucasus has been challenged since the Ukraine war.
The US official said Tehran fears the corridor will leave it more dependent on Azerbaijan for access to Russia and Europe.
The same official described the plan as “very Trumpian,” focusing on trade and economic growth rather than framing it purely as a security issue, and said the deal opens Armenia to the world and gives it the United States as a key partner instead of Iran.
From quiet talks to public signing
Trump called the upcoming gathering a Historic Peace Summit and praised both leaders for “doing the right thing” for their people in a post on Truth Social.
“Peace is not finalized there is still more work to do, but the accord sets out the main issues and steps to resolve them,” the US official told Axios. The agreement will begin with government-to-government cooperation, with hopes it will grow into warmer relations between citizens over time.
"In the past few months, the regime has been escalating its efforts to target civilians in Europe and North America, not least those from within the Iranian diaspora and Jewish community," United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) said in a statement.
"These acts of transnational repression, which are a flagrant violation of Europe and North America’s territorial sovereignty, must be met with severe consequences," UANI Chairman Governor Jeb Bush and CEO Ambassador Mark D. Wallace said.
On July 31, the United States and thirteen allied countries accused Iran of plotting to kill, kidnap and intimidate individuals in Europe and North America, citing violations of sovereignty and links to international criminal networks.
“These services are increasingly collaborating with international criminal organizations to target journalists, dissidents, Jewish citizens, and current and former officials,” the US State Department said in a joint statement with European countries.
The UANI statement applauded the US and its European allies for condemning what it called the Islamic Republic's "continuous acts of transnational repression on Western soil."
However, Bush and Wallace stressed that such statements "need to be paired with a diplomatic isolation campaign, sanctions, and the credible threat of targeted military force."
"These cases cannot be handled solely as law enforcement matters where once the authorities thwart the terror plots, the situation is brushed under the rug. This only emboldens the Islamic Republic’s terrorism as it will calculate the benefits outweigh the costs."
The UANI statement urged Western governments to “be on heightened alert for terror plots targeting Jewish communities as well as the Iranian diaspora,” citing explicit death threats from Iran’s intelligence ministry against 45 Iran International journalists.
"It is time to hold #Iran's regime accountable for transnational repression. Just today the regime threatened to execute @IranIntl journalists and their families. It's unacceptable," former Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush said in a post on X.
Iran International on Tuesday filed an urgent appeal with United Nations experts urging them to take action against Tehran over serious risks to the lives and safety of their journalists worldwide and relatives inside Iran.
Over the past six weeks, the Iranian authorities have intimidated and threatened 45 journalists and 315 of their family members with death unless they stop working for Iran International by specific deadlines, Iran International said in a statement.
Since its formation in 2017, Iran International journalists have been targeted by the Iranian authorities for their reporting. However, since the start of a 12-day war between Iran and Israel in mid-June, the situation has deteriorated rapidly and there is now a real risk to the lives of multiple Iran International staff and to their family members.
