The United States is reportedly set to gain exclusive development rights to a strategic transit route through Armenia’s southern Syunik Province, according to a Reuters report published on August 7. This comes ahead of a trilateral summit in Washington D.C. between U.S. President Donald Trump, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, scheduled for August 7-8.
Details of the proposed agreement were shared on social media by Alex Raufoglu, a Washington-based journalist covering the South Caucasus and a member of the Foreign Press Correspondents Association. In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Raufoglu said the leaders are expected to sign a framework agreement aimed at creating “an irreversible pathway to peace,” outlining steps toward the full normalization of diplomatic relations.
Citing unnamed diplomatic sources, Raufoglu reported that the foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan are set to initiate a peace deal that has been under negotiation for several months. The two countries are also expected to jointly declare their withdrawal from the OSCE Minsk Group, a body that has mediated peace efforts in the region since 1992.
According to Reuters, the proposed route will no longer be referred to as the “Zangezur Corridor.” Instead, it will be named the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity (TRIPP), forming the foundation of a new Armenian-American commercial venture.
The route will operate under Armenian law, and the United States will be granted exclusive development rights for an extended period. The land will be subleased to a consortium for infrastructure development and management.
“Through commercial means, this step will unlock the region and avert further hostilities,” one U.S. official told Reuters.
Armenian and Azerbaijani leaders are also expected to sign documents requesting the formal dissolution of the Minsk Group, which has been co-chaired by France, Russia, and the United States since its establishment in 1992 to mediate the conflict.
Raufoglu added that U.S. officials have assured that Armenia’s sovereignty, territorial integrity, and legal jurisdiction over the route will be fully maintained. The project is described as purely economic in nature, with no military or strategic components. U.S. troops will not be deployed along the corridor; instead, security will reportedly be managed by a private American company.
According to Reuters, the White House sees the agreement as part of a broader push for global diplomacy. U.S. officials believe that a peace deal between Armenia and Azerbaijan could pave the way for negotiations on Azerbaijan joining the Abraham Accords — the normalization agreements brokered by Trump during his first term between Israel and four Muslim-majority countries.
Progress on the peace deal began in March, when U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff visited the region. His team made several subsequent trips to facilitate the agreement.
The summit coincides with other diplomatic initiatives during Trump’s second term, including efforts to end conflicts between Cambodia and Thailand, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Pakistan and India. However, Trump has been less successful in resolving Russia’s war in Ukraine and the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
As of now, neither the White House nor the governments of Armenia and Azerbaijan have issued official statements confirming the details of the reported agreement.
