U.S. President Donald Trump, in an interview with journalist Mark Levin, revisited his mediation efforts in the Armenian-Azerbaijani peace process during a Washington summit.
Trump described how he had to personally intervene when tensions between Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev escalated.
“The conflict had gone on for 34–35 years. I met the leaders and asked: ‘Why are you even fighting? I’m not going to do business with you guys if you’re at war. That’s insanity,’” Trump recounted.
He said that both leaders appeared visibly uncomfortable during the meeting, even inside the Oval Office, and tried to “escape” before signing a joint statement. Nonetheless, Trump said they eventually embraced and congratulated each other.
“It was nice to see,” the president noted, adding: “I love ending wars.”
Trump emphasized that during his presidency he managed to end six conflicts—an achievement he claims surpasses the records of many other U.S. presidents.
During the interview, Trump reportedly mispronounced “Azerbaijan” and mistakenly referred to “Armenia” as “Albania.”
Trump had previously stated that he now considers both Pashinyan and Aliyev to be good friends.
