Witkoff says Azerbaijan–Armenia deal reached in six weeks

A diplomatic peace agreement between Azerbaijan and Armenia was reached in just six weeks, despite nearly four decades of conflict, US presidential envoy Steve Witkoff said.

Speaking at the Real Estate Impact Conference 2026, Witkoff said the deal was achieved rapidly due to a focused diplomatic effort conducted with limited public scrutiny. He suggested that the absence of intense media attention helped facilitate progress.

“What we're doing is clearing up miscommunication.[..] Azerbaijan and Armenia, which we worked on, that deal on behalf of the president was the easiest deal because the New York Times didn't know about it. So they couldn't say anything nasty about what we were doing. We got that deal done in six weeks," Witkoff said.

Witkoff noted that the breakthrough came after 37 years of conflict.

"The prime minister of Armenia [Nikol Pashinyan - ed.] and the president of Azerbaijan, President [Ilham - ed.] Aliyev, are good friends together, brought together by President Trump. It's quite remarkable,” he added.