The nations of Azerbaijan and Armenia sign a Trump-brokered peace deal

It's official: Azerbaijan and Armenia have made a step towards peace. Last Friday, the President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, and the Prime Minister of Armenia, Nikol Pashinyan, arrived in the United States. Together, with President Trump mediating, they managed to come together and create a peace treaty.

The treaty's provisions included Armenia recognizing Azerbaijan's control over the Nagorno-Karabakh region. In return, Azerbaijan is required to give up the land it occupied from Armenia. These lands would remain internationally part of Armenia, but would give Azerbaijan the ability to connect its mainland with its exclave, Nakhchivan. This would be facilitated through American military forces.

So far, the reactions from outside parties have been mostly positive, with the European Union, Russia, Turkey, and the Vatican supporting the treaty as a way of promoting peace in an unstable region.  There are people that disagree with the treaty, however. Iran has expressed their disdain for the plan to allow Azerbaijan to connect to its western exclave. They have claimed that by doing this, the United States is showing bias towards Azerbaijan at the expense of Armenia. Due to their tensions with the United States, it stands to reason that Iran would not accept any American troops so close to their border. There is also the question of what will happen to the Armenians who fled from Nagorno-Karabakh during Azerbaijan's recapturing of the territory. Critics argue that the treaty does little to nothing to facilitate a return of the expelled. As of now, the Armenians who fled mostly reside in Armenia proper, remaining in a state of limbo, with no guarantee of being able to return to their homeland.

With such a large amount of support from the most influential nations in the world, this treaty is likely to be passed. Even then, there still remain a large number of issues, such as Iran's rejection of the treaty and the expulsion of the Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh.