Armenia and Azerbaijan on Friday signed a U.S.-brokered peace treaty at the White House, formally committing to end more than three decades of hostilities over the Nagorno-Karabakh region. President Donald Trump hosted Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev for the ceremony, hailing the accord as a "historic" step toward permanent stability in the South Caucasus. Under the agreement the two former Soviet republics pledge to cease fighting "forever," establish diplomatic relations and respect each other’s territorial integrity. A centerpiece of the deal grants the United States exclusive development rights to a strategic transit corridor—dubbed the "Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity"—linking Azerbaijan with its Nakhchivan exclave through southern Armenia. Washington also lifted long-standing restrictions on defense cooperation with Baku and signed separate memoranda with both governments covering energy, trade, artificial-intelligence projects, infrastructure and border security. U.S. officials said the pact represents the first resolution of a frozen conflict on Russia’s periphery since the Cold War and could reshape regional trade and energy flows. The European Union welcomed the breakthrough, while analysts noted that the expanded U.S. footprint in the corridor is likely to unsettle Moscow and Tehran. Both Aliyev and Pashinyan praised Trump’s mediation and said they would back his nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize.