The United States “absolutely still” sees an opportunity to achieve comprehensive long-term peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan, despite decent “setbacks”, Department of State spokesperson Ned Price said on Wednesday, August 17.

Price told press briefing on numerous occasions that there were “historic opportunities” to settle the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh. Those statements, however, were followed by Azerbaijan’s gross ceasefire violations, which resulted in multiple deaths and injuries.

“We are still working to do what we can to facilitate what we hope to see, and that is a comprehensive long-term peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan, Price said.

“You know that Secretary [Antony] Blinken recently had an opportunity to engage with the leaders of these countries. We did so, registering our deep concern about the recent fighting in and around Nagorno-Karabakh, including the casualties and the loss of life that had resulted from that. We urged immediate steps to reduce tensions and to avoid further escalations between the parties. And the recent increase in tensions underscores, we believe, the need for a negotiated, comprehensive, and sustainable settlement of all remaining issues related to or resulting from the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. So while we’ve seen an intensification of tensions resulting in some violence, we are going to remain committed to working with the parties. We will continue to do so bilaterally, but also with likeminded partners in the EU and through our role as an OSCE Minsk co-chair to help the countries find that long-term comprehensive peace.

Asked whether he still sees the same level of historic opportunities he was seeing in the past, Price gave a positive response.

“We absolutely still see an opportunity here despite the setbacks. We always recognized this was never going to be a linear process. We believe that through continued dialogue, continued engagement, including at the senior levels, we will be in a position to do everything we can to help advance that long-term comprehensive peace.”