U.S. Sees 'Real Opportunity' For Peace Between Azerbaijan, Armenia: James O'Brien

The top Biden administration official in charge of Europe and Eurasia said on Monday that he believes there is a 'real opportunity' for peace between Azerbaijan and Armenia.

"We know they've expressed an interest in concluding a peace agreement very soon, and we would love to see that happen," Ambassador James O'Brien, Assistant Secretary of State told TURAN's Washington correspondent during a State Department media call Monday morning.

According to him, only peace would also benefit regional cooperation.

For example, if trade from Central Asia is able to flow through Azerbaijan and Armenia to Turkey, "then it would be a substantial boost for all the countries on that trade route," as he put it:   "And we'd welcome the opportunity to be part of that."

At the same time, O'Brien said, "if the decision is made not to pursue that by peaceful means, then we would have to use whatever tools we could to avoid having that kind of trade route created."

"So we've been very clear with the parties about what we hope to see and about the consequences of moving forward otherwise. So I would look forward to seeing where the parties come out," the Assistant Secretary concluded.