US President Donald Trump announced late on August 7 he will host a "historic peace summit" at the White House with the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan. He claimed that years of failed negotiations will culminate in a peace agreement and US-led economic development plans across the South Caucasus.

"I look forward to hosting the President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, and the Prime Minister of Armenia, Nikol Pashinyan, at the White House tomorrow [August 8] for a Historic Peace Summit," Trump posted on his Truth Social platform. "Many leaders have tried to end the war, with no success, until now, thanks to 'TRUMP'."

The summit, scheduled for August 8, will be the most significant US diplomatic intervention in the region since the collapse of post-Soviet peace efforts. 

According to earlier reports by Reuters the summit is expected to include four key agreements: a joint declaration on peace, the initialling of a bilateral peace accord, formal withdrawal from the OSCE Minsk Group, and economic memoranda between Washington and both nations.

“These two Nations have been at War for many years, resulting in the deaths of thousands of people,” Trump wrote. “Tomorrow, President Aliyev AND Prime Minister Pashinyan will join me at the White House for an official Peace Signing Ceremony.”

Armenia and Azerbaijan were locked in a mostly frozen conflict over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region since the 1990s that sporadically erupted into full-scale fighting. The latest war in 2023 saw Azerbaijan regain control over the enclave in a swift offensive, prompting over 100,000 ethnic Armenians to flee.

The agreement is expected to include a formal end to hostilities and pave the way for the creation of a US-Armenia-led transit route known as the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity (TRIPP). The proposed corridor, cutting through southern Armenia, would link Azerbaijan to its Nakhchivan exclave and serve as a strategic trade artery for the wider region.

“It will be a Historic Day for Armenia, Azerbaijan, the United States, and, THE WORLD. See you then!” Trump wrote.

As part of the deal, the US will sign separate bilateral agreements with both Armenia and Azerbaijan, according to the US president. 

It was previously reported that the agreements will cover digital infrastructure, energy cooperation and cross-border transit initiatives. 

“The United States will also sign Bilateral Agreements with both Countries to pursue Economic opportunities together, so we can fully unlock the potential of the South Caucasus Region,” Trump said. “I am very proud of these courageous Leaders for doing the right thing for the Great People of Armenia and Azerbaijan.”

Azerbaijan’s demands for a land route across Armenia to Nakhchivan — referred to by Baku as the Zangezur corridor — have been one of the main sticking points to reaching an agreement with Armenia, as the proposal is opposed by Armenia, as well as its neighbour Iran. 

The TRIPP initiative is thus also viewed as a geopolitical counterweight to Iran and Russia’s influence in the region.

Iran has previously opposed any transit arrangements that could isolate it from regional trade flows.

Meanwhile, Russia’s influence in the region is waning as Moscow’s relations with both Baku and Yerevan have deteriorated recently. 

Yerevan was incensed by the Russia-led Collective Security Treaty Organisation’s (CSTO’s) failure to support it against Azerbaijani military incursions on its territory, and has to an extent distanced itself from Russia at the same time as expressing interest in European Union membership. 

Later, the downing of an Azerbaijani AZAL aircraft by Russian air defences seriously damaged Baku-Moscow relations, which worsened further with the recent arrests of a number of Azerbaijanis in a police operation in Yekaterinburg. 

However, both Azerbaijan and Turkey are expected to benefit strongly from the new transit route, as are countries in the broader region as it will speed up transit times along the Middle Corridor. 

According to Reuters, the route will be non-militarised and operated under Armenian sovereignty. Logistics and security are to be handled by private American-led consortiums. The United States is not expected to fund construction directly, but will instead facilitate development through private sector engagement.

Another key element of the summit will be the formal withdrawal of both Armenia and Azerbaijan from the OSCE Minsk Group, a now-defunct mediation framework co-chaired by the US, France and Russia.

The summit comes after months of backchannel diplomacy led by Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, whose visits to Baku, Yerevan and Nakhchivan paved the way for the agreements expected to be signed on August 8.

Aliyev’s office announced that he arrived in Washington on August 7, and met with Witkoff later the same day. 

“During the conversation, views were exchanged on the development prospects of strategic cooperation between the Republic of Azerbaijan and the United States of America, the normalisation process between Armenia and Azerbaijan, and the peace agenda in the region,” the statement from the Azerbaijani presidency said. 

There has been no announcement from the Armenian prime minister’s office but on the morning of August 8 Pashinyan rather cryptically posted a quotation from the bible on his Facebook page saying: “Blessed are the peacemakers”.