Trump optimistic about Armenia, Azerbaijan peace deal, touts US diplomatic efforts

President Donald Trump says the long-standing conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan appears to ber coming to a “successful conclusion,” on the strength of U.S. diplomatic efforts.

Trump made the comment Monday in the Oval Office following his meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, while touting U.S. efforts in easing tensions between India and Pakistan, and between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

"It looks like it’s going to come to a conclusion, a successful conclusion," he said about a pending Armenia-Azerbaijan peace agreement.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev met last week in Abu Dhabi, in the sides' efforts to end years of conflict. Both sides ended the talks suggesting they are now closer than anytime time before to formalizing a peace treaty, according to the independent information and analysis website commonspace.eu.

A peace agreement between the two nations is of U.S. interest, Victoria Coats, a former Trump deputy national security adviser, recently told Just the News. 

“Azerbaijan is a critical strategic ally of the United States – a major energy producer and an energy hub in this sort of Central Asian region,” she also said.

Azerbaijan also sits in a strategically important location between Iran and Russia.

The agreement would also benefit Israel, which has a relationship with both countries and would like to expand them in an Abraham accords style, said Coates. However, Israel needs Armenia and Azerbaijan to be at peace with each other first.

“You have a really great situation here where the resolution of the Azerbaijan Armenia situation could lead to a dozen additional Abraham Accords countries, because it wouldn't just be Armenia and Azerbaijan,” Coates said. “This could be a really great way to sort of get back into this peace field after the conflict of the last two years.”

She also said the Biden administration was close to a deal but no one seemed to be able to get it across the finish line.