Iran Threatens 'Trump Corridor' After Azerbaijan-Armenia Deal

Iran threatens Trump corridor under Azerbaijan-Armenia peace deal. Tehran has threatened to block a corridor planned in the South Caucasus as part of a regional deal sponsored by U.S. President Donald Trump, Iranian media reported, raising a new question mark over a peace plan that had been touted as a strategic shift.

A senior Azerbaijani diplomat earlier said the plan announced by Trump on Friday was just one step away from a final peace deal between his country and Armenia, which has reiterated its support for the plan, Reuters reported.

Trump's proposed so-called "Route for International Peace and Prosperity" (TRIPP) would run through southern Armenia, giving Azerbaijan a direct route to its Nakhchivan exclave and, in turn, to Turkey.

Donald Trump said it was “a great honor” to have the route named after him, but “I didn’t ask for it.” A senior administration official told reporters before the event that the name was suggested by the Armenian side, The Guardian reports.

The United States will have exclusive rights to develop the corridor, which the White House says will boost exports of energy and other resources.

It is difficult to say how Iran, which borders the area, plans to block the corridor, but the statement by Ali Akbar Velayati, a top adviser to Iran's supreme leader, raised questions about its security, Reuters reports.

He said the military exercises held in northwestern Iran demonstrated the Islamic Republic's readiness and determination to prevent any geopolitical changes: "This corridor will not become a passage belonging to Trump, but rather a graveyard for Trump's mercenaries."

Iran's Foreign Ministry earlier welcomed the deal "as an important step towards lasting regional peace" but warned against any foreign interference near its borders that could "undermine security and lasting stability in the region."

Analysts and insiders say Iran, under growing U.S. pressure over its disputed nuclear program and the fallout from a 12-day war with Israel in June, lacks the military power to close the corridor, Reuters reports.

Trump welcomed Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan to the White House on Friday and witnessed them sign a joint declaration aimed at drawing a line under their decades-long conflict.

Russia, Armenia's traditional power broker and ally in the strategically important South Caucasus region crossed by oil and gas pipelines, was not included in the scheme, despite its border guards being deployed on the border between Armenia and Iran, Reuters notes.

While Moscow said it supported holding the summit, it proposed "implementing solutions developed by the countries of the region themselves with the support of their immediate neighbors - Russia, Iran and Turkey" to avoid what it called the "sad experience" of Western mediation efforts in the Middle East.

Azerbaijan's close ally, NATO member Türkiye, welcomed the agreement.

Disagreements between Baku and Yerevan began in the late 1980s, when Nagorno-Karabakh, populated mainly by ethnic Armenians, broke away from Azerbaijan with Armenian support. Azerbaijan regained full control of the region in 2023, prompting nearly all of the territory’s 100,000 ethnic Armenians to flee to Armenia.

"The chapter of hostility has been closed and we are now moving towards a lasting peace," said Azerbaijan's ambassador to Britain, Elin Suleymanov, predicting that the region's prosperity and transport links would improve. "This is a paradigm shift," said Suleymanov, who, as a former envoy to Washington who previously served in President Aliyev's administration, is one of his country's most senior diplomats.

But Suleymanov declined to say when a final peace deal would be signed, noting that Aliyev had said he wanted it to happen as soon as possible. According to Suleymanov, there was only one remaining hurdle: Armenia had to amend its constitution to remove reference to Nagorno-Karabakh: "Azerbaijan is ready to sign the agreement at any time, as soon as Armenia fulfills the most basic obligation to eliminate its territorial claims against Azerbaijan in its constitution."

Armenian Prime Minister Pashinyan called for a referendum on constitutional changes this year, but no date has been set. Armenia is set to hold parliamentary elections in June 2026, and a new constitution is expected to be drafted before the vote.

The Armenian leader said Friday that the Washington summit paved the way for ending decades of conflict and opening transportation links that will open up strategic economic opportunities.

Separately from the joint agreement, Armenia and Azerbaijan signed agreements with the United States aimed at strengthening cooperation in energy, technology and economics, the White House said.

Trump is keen to establish himself as a peacemaker and has made no secret of his ambition to win the Nobel Peace Prize. The Yerevan-Baku deal on Friday was the latest in a series of peace and economic agreements brokered by the United States this year.

The leaders of both Armenia and Azerbaijan credited Trump and his team with the breakthrough, joining a growing list of foreign leaders and other officials who have said Trump should win the Nobel Peace Prize. “We are laying the foundation to write a better history than we had in the past,” Pashinyan said, calling the agreement “an important milestone.” “President Trump has worked a miracle in six months,” Aliyev said.