Pashinyan Credits Trump’s Involvement In Path Toward Peace

• At Yerevan’s second Prayer Breakfast dinner, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan credited President Trump’s personal role for the Armenia–Azerbaijan peace path and recalled a February 2024 National Prayer Breakfast and an unplanned White House meeting with Vice President JD Vance, where he said he believed in peace without judging how realistic it was.
• He framed faith as the opposite of despair and closed with Psalm 29; the dinner was opened by Armenian Catholic Archbishop Gevorg Noratunkyan.
• Speakers included U.S. Assistant Secretary Riley Barnes and USCIRF chair Asif Mahmood; the RAPB is described as an independent two-day civil-society forum on prayer, religious freedom, and Armenia’s future, not a state body.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan attended the official dinner held as part of the second Prayer Breakfast in Yerevan, which brought together senior officials from Armenia and abroad and representatives of various sectors, and delivered remarks. He stressed that, in his view, this is a format where people can freely speak about God and share their own spiritual perceptions and stories.

The prime minister also highlighted the support provided by U.S. President Donald Trump on the path toward achieving peace with Azerbaijan.

“Without his personal involvement and personal contribution, we could not have traveled that path, and this is very important,” he said.

The country’s leader referred to his February 2024 visit to the United States, his participation in the National Prayer Breakfast, as well as an unplanned meeting at the White House with U.S. Vice President JD Vance. According to the prime minister, during that meeting, the American officials asked how realistic the establishment of peace in the region was. He replied that he could not assess the degree to which it was realistic, but could say that he believed in peace.

According to Pashinyan, “no matter how severe the trials and difficulties may be, one should not despair, because despair means not believing in God, while believing in God means not despairing.” The prime minister said he “had been able to overcome difficulties for one simple reason: he believes in God.”

Pashinyan concluded his remarks with Psalm 29, titled Prayer of Thanksgiving.

Among those who attended and delivered remarks at the event were Riley Barnes, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor; Asif Mahmood, head of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom; and Stepan Sargsyan, president of the Spiritual Club of Secular People non-governmental organization. The dinner was opened by Archbishop Gevorg Noratunkyan, leader of the Armenian Catholics of Armenia, Georgia, Russia and Eastern Europe.

The Republic of Armenia Prayer Breakfast (RAPB) is a two-day international, independent civil society initiative dedicated to prayer, faith, leadership, religious freedom, peace and Armenia’s future. It has also served as a platform for dialogue and cooperation among representatives of different political, national, denominational and religious circles.