Trump announces JD Vance visit to Azerbaijan and Armenia months after historic peace deal

US President Donald Trump has announced in his Truth Social post that Vice President JD Vance will be visiting the South Caucasus in February, months after the historic Azerbaijan-Armenian peace deal in Washington. Trump said that the visit was intended to further the trade and diplomatic relations with Azerbaijan and Armenia. The Southern Caucasus had rarely featured in Washington's diplomatic list before Trump.

"We will strengthen our strategic partnership with Azerbaijan, a beautiful Agreement for Peaceful Nuclear Cooperation with Armenia, Deals for our Great Semiconductor Makers, and the sale of Made in the U.S.A. Defense Equipment, such as body armour and boats, and more, to Azerbaijan," wrote Trump in a Truth Social post.

Also Read: Iranian vessels appear near UAE waters as US carriers heads to Persian Gulf

The two countries were engaged in nearly four decades of conflict over the mountainous region of Nagorno-Karabakh. Trump again took credit for solving “8 wars” and said there was now “prosperity and peace”. Trump publicly thanked the leadersof Azerbaijan, President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, for upholding the peace argument. Under the agreement, the two countries are to refrain from using force, relinquish all claims to each other's territory and respect international law.

In recent years, Armenia has seen only one visit from US Representative Nancy Pelosi in 2022. The last time any of these countries received a visit from a US VP was in 2008 by Dick Cheney. Now, Vance is headed to both capitals as a signal, aides say privately, to elevate the foreign policy card.

However, Azerbaijan is suffering from internal political problems. President Ilham Aliyev has launched a crackdown on opposition figures. US lawmakers have warned the Trump administration it may be “sleepwalking into complicity.” “Why is Aliyev treated as legitimate…while others are sanctioned as pariahs?” said Samara Seyidova, wife of opposition leader Ali Karimli, who was arrested, allegedly for attempting a “violent seizure of power,” an allegation opposition leaders call “farce”.