US Vice President JD Vance arrived in Azerbaijan on Tuesday, where he held high-level meetings with President Ilham Aliyev. Following the meeting, the two leaders signed a charter on a ‘strategic partnership’ between the US and Azerbaijan. Vance also announced the US would ‘ship some new boats to Azerbaijan to help you all with your territorial waters protection’, which would mark the first time the US has provided Azerbaijan with military equipment.
There were no details on what kind of boats would be delivered or in what quantity.
Vance’s visit is the highest-level trip of an American official to Azerbaijan, and comes a day after he similarly made history when he landed in Armenia.
Following a reception and some closed-door meetings, Vance and Aliyev held a signing ceremony and a brief press conference. Unlike the previous day’s press conference between Vance and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, there were no questions from reporters, and the whole affair was wrapped up in 10 minutes.
The charter largely followed the framework of the memorandum signed at the August 2025 trilateral summit in Washington between Aliyev, Pashinyan, and US President Donald Trump.
One key addition, however, was the clause that the US and Azerbaijan ‘intend to deepen civil nuclear cooperation’.
The previous day, Vance similarly promised there would be cooperation between Armenia and the US in nuclear energy, making a vaguely-worded pledge of some $9 billion in US exports.
The bulk of the short press conference was dedicated to the ongoing peace process between Armenia and Azerbaijan and the associated plans for the Trump Route to connect Azerbaijan to its exclave of Nakhchivan through Armenian territory.
Vance praised Aliyev and Pashinyan for their roles in helping move the peace process forward, saying that without them ‘we would not have gotten that peace agreement done’. In fact, the peace treaty remains unsigned — Aliyev and Pashinyan only initialled the document in Washington.
‘Three people I think created historic peace. The president of this country, the prime minister of Armenia, and of course the president of the United States working together created peace where previously there was war, and I think in the future will create prosperity where once there was only fighting and conflict’, Vance said.
‘That is an amazing testament to [Trump’s] leadership, but also to President Aliyev’s leadership as well’.
For his part, Aliyev also lavished both Vance and Trump with praise for their part in the peace process.
Vance ended the press conference with a mixture of personal compliments to Aliyev and what appeared to be an attempt to introduce a bit of levity.
‘I was telling my staff before we landed that other than President Trump, the only leader in the world that has really good relations with both the Turks and the Israelis is President Aliyev, and so I said that one, that means the food is really good here, or two, he must be really charming. I can confirm that he’s very charming, and we’re going to find out in a little bit about the food, and I’m sure it will be great’, Vance quipped.
He concluded by saying ‘that the second lady [Usha Vance] and I are very pleased to be having dinner later today. And I, as I understand it, the vice president of Azerbaijan [Mehriban Aliyeva] is also the president’s wife’.
‘Hopefully that doesn’t give the second lady any ideas’, Vance added in jest.
Nate Ostiller
