Armenia and the United States have approved a joint statement establishing the Armenia–US implementation framework for the “Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity” (TRIPP) program, an initiative centered on a critical route passing through Armenia’s Syunik region.
Signed by Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the document launches TRIPP in Armenia, introducing private operators into customs procedures and the collection of trade and transit fees under the guise of economic and logistical cooperation.
The framework establishes uninterrupted, multimodal transit through Armenian territory. Critics argue that the initiative is political rather than commercial in nature, designed to formalize a transit regime linking mainland Azerbaijan to Nakhijevan, a historically Armenian region placed under Azerbaijani control during the Soviet period.
The route runs through Syunik, a region of critical strategic and security importance for Armenia and its only land connection to Iran, and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and other officials continue to refer to it as the “Zangezur corridor,” reinforcing fears that rebranding masks an effort to impose a transit arrangement that would constrain Armenian sovereignty.
Despite repeated references to sovereignty and territorial integrity, the agreement’s structure points in the opposite direction. A US-backed TRIPP development company would receive a 49-year mandate, with a 74 percent US stake and only 26 percent Armenian ownership, and a further 50-year extension envisaged, leaving Armenia without effective control over the route for decades.
Critics view the deal as a strategic concession made under Pashinyan’s leadership following the loss of Artsakh, when Armenia’s negotiating position was severely weakened. While Pashinyan’s government avoids politically charged terminology, the substance of the agreement closely mirrors earlier corridor proposals Armenia long rejected, transforming what is presented as infrastructure development into a long-term, foreign-managed transit regime through Syunik that risks entrenching external leverage over Armenian sovereignty.
