- Diplomat says that the final peace agreement faces a single obstacle
- Armenia must amend its constitution, he says.
- Armenia PM has asked for a vote on change.
Iran threatened Saturday to block a corridor planned in the Caucasus by virtue of a regional agreement sponsored by the president of the United States, Donald Trump, Iranian media reported, raising a new questioning sign on an acclaimed peace plan as a strategically important change.
A superior Azerbaijai diplomat said previously that the plan, announced by Trump on Friday, was just one step away from a final peace agreement between his country and Armenia, which reiterated his support for the plan.
Trump’s proposed route for international peace and prosperity (Tripp) would extend through southern Armenia, giving Azerbaijan a direct route to his excavation of Nakhchivan and, in turn, to Turkey.
The United States would have exclusive development rights to the corridor, which the White House said it would facilitate the greatest exports of energy and other resources.
It was not clear how they will go, which limits with the area, would block it, but the statement of Ali Akbar Velayati, main advisor of the supreme leader of Iran, asked questions about his safety.
He said that the military exercises carried out in the northwest of Iran demonstrated the preparation and determination of the Islamic Republic to avoid geopolitical changes.
“This corridor will not become a passage owned by Trump, but rather a cemetery for Trump’s mercenaries,” said Velayati.
Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs previously thanked the agreement “as an important step towards lasting regional peace,” but warned of any foreign intervention near their borders that could “undermine the security and lasting stability of the region.”
Analysts and experts say that Iran, under American pressure on their disputed nuclear program and the sequelae of a 12 -day war with Israel in June, lacks military power to block the corridor.
Moscow says that West should go
Trump welcomed the president of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan in the White House on Friday and witnessed his signing of a joint statement aimed at drawing a line under his conflict inside and outside decades.
Russia, a traditional and ally of Armenia in the strategically important region of the South Caucasus, which is cross -linked with oil and gas pipes, it was not included, despite the fact that its border guards are parked on the border between Armenia and Iran.
Although Moscow said he supported the summit, he proposed “implementing solutions developed by the countries of the region themselves with the support of its immediate neighbors: Russia, Iran and Turkey” to avoid what he called the “sad experience” of the western efforts to mediate in the Middle East.
The nearby ally of Azerbaijan, the NATO member, Türkiye, welcomed the agreement.
Baku and Ereván have disagreed since the end of the 1980s, when Nagorno-Karabakh, a mountainous region of Azerbaiyan mostly populated by ethnic Armenians, separated from Azerbaijan with the support of Armenia. Azerbaiyan recovered total control of the region in 2023, which caused almost all the 100,000 ethnic armenians of the territory to Huyan to Armenia.
“The enmity chapter is closed and now we are moving towards lasting peace,” said Elin Suleymanov, Azerbaijan ambassador to Britain, predicting that prosperity and transport links of the largest region would be transformed for better.
“This is a paradigm shift,” said Suleymanov, who, as a former Washington envoy, who used to work in President Aliyev’s office, is one of the most important diplomats in his country.
However, Suleymanov refused to speculate when a final peace agreement would be signed, and pointed out that Aliyev had said he wanted to happen soon.
He remained only an obstacle, said Suleymanov, which was for Armenia to amend his constitution to eliminate a reference to Nagorno-Karabakh.
“Azerbaijan is ready to sign at any time once Armenia fulfills the very basic commitment to eliminate his territorial claim against Azerbaijan in his constitution,” he said.
Many unanswered questions
Pashinyan this year asked for a referendum to change the Constitution, but a date has not yet been established. Armenia will celebrate parliamentary elections in June 2026, and the new Constitution is expected to be written before the vote.
The Armenian leader said in X that the Washington Summit had paved the way to finish the decades of open transport conflicts and connections that would unlock strategic economic opportunities.
When asked when the traffic railway route would begin to run, Suleymanov said that would depend on cooperation between the United States and Armenia, who, according to him, were already in conversations.
Joshua Kucera, a senior analyst of the South Caucaso in International Crisis Group, said Trump might not have obtained the easy victory he had expected, since the agreements left many unanswered questions.
The issue of the Constitution of Armenia continued to threaten the process, and it was not clear how the new transport corridor would work in practice.
“Key details are missing, even how customs controls and the security and nature of Armenian reciprocal access to Azerbaijan territory will work. These could be serious obstacles,” Kucera said.
Suleymanov mentioned the suggestions that Russia, which still has extensive security and economic interests in Armenia, was being disadvantaged.
“Anyone and everyone can benefit from this if they choose it,” he said.
