Highlighting Azerbaijan’s demand for Armenia to change its constitution, the U.S. National Intelligence Office, in its Annual Threat Assessment report released on Wednesday, said “hurdles” still remained to a final peace deal between Yerevan and Baku.

“President [Ilham] Aliyev [of Azerbaijan] continues to insist that Armenia change its constitution to remove a reference that he characterizes as claiming Nagorno-Karabakh is part of Armenia, a step which would require Armenia to hold a constitutional referendum whose passage is not guaranteed,” the report said.

The report noted that the talks held at the White House between Aliyev, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and President Donald Trump on August 8, 2025 “has created an opportunity for the two countries to establish a lasting peace deal and contributed to increasing regional stability.”

The U.S. Intelligence Community also stressed that “the results of the Peace Summit included a provisional agreement on the terms of a peace treaty and plans to establish the ‘Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity’ (TRIPP), managed by the U.S., that will connect Azerbaijan to its exclave of Naxcivan across southern Armenia, unlocking trade flows for both nations and the region.”

The report assessed that these developments represent “a significant change in direction for Armenian-Azerbaijani relations.” The report recalled that “in 2020 and 2023, Azerbaijan militarily retook control of its Nagorno-Karabakh region from an ethnic Armenian population supported by Yerevan.”

“Since August 8, both sides have appeared willing to maintain the momentum from the Peace Summit. Border ceasefire violations between Armenia and Azerbaijan have plummeted and now are almost nonexistent,” the report stated, noting Azerbaijan’s shipments of gasoline and permitted transshipments of wheat to Armenia.

“In October 2025, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev announced that Azerbaijan had lifted restrictions on cargo transit through Azerbaijan to Armenia, a move that Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian reciprocated within days,” the report added.

Armenia’s Justice Minister Srbuhi Galyan on Wednesday did not clarify whether a newly drafted constitution retains a reference to the Declaration of Independence.

Speaking to reporters in parliament, Galyan was vague, saying that the current draft does not yet include a preamble, where the reference appears in Armenia’s existing constitution. She added that discussions on the draft are still ongoing within the government and the ruling party’s parliamentary faction, and that the full text, including the preamble, will be published at a later stage.

While speaking to reporters on Thursday, Pashinyan, reiterated his earlier position and called the Declaration of Independence a document that sows conflict.

“The Declaration of Independence is not a declaration of independence; it is a declaration of conflict, and as a result, a declaration of dependence,” Pashinyan said, explaining that in such an environment, it is possible to live only by expecting external assistance, and expecting external assistance will place one in a continuously increasing dependence on those from whom that assistance is expected.

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