Key facts
- Armenian officials began design work on the TRIPP corridor before an operating agreement with the US was finalized.
- Pashinyan said work results would be transferred to TRIPP Development once the entity is established.
- The corridor is planned to carry a road, railway, power and fiber-optic lines, and energy pipelines.
- Iran's envoy to Armenia, Khalil Shirgholami, said Tehran would have little tolerance for a US security presence tied to TRIPP.
- The Kremlin reportedly threatened to cut gas supplies to Armenia unless Yerevan abandons its pivot toward the West.
- Pashinyan said Armenia would be ready to apply for EU membership no later than 2028.
Armenian officials have started design work for the TRIPP trade corridor even though an operating agreement with the United States has not been finalized, according to Eurasianet.
US and Armenian officials announced in January a preliminary agreement to set up an entity, TRIPP Development, to manage the corridor. The agreement outlined the entity's ownership structure but left operational details to be settled later. Eurasianet reported that little had since been done to get TRIPP Development running.
In late October, Armenia's parliament formally approved a bill authorizing the formation of TRIPP Development. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said officials were not waiting for the entity's incorporation and would immediately begin preparatory work on the corridor, which could eventually include a road, railway, power and fiber-optic transmission lines, and energy pipelines. "After the establishment of TRIPP Development, the results of the work will be transferred to it," Pashinyan told MPs on November 2.
TRIPP, the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity, was the centerpiece of the provisional peace deal between Armenia and Azerbaijan brokered by the US president in August 2025. The corridor would cross Armenian territory to connect Azerbaijan to its Nakhchivan exclave and is envisioned as a node in a trans-Caspian trade network.
Russia and Iran have both come out against the route, wary that it would disrupt north-south trade between the two states, and suspicious of a likely US security presence in the region connected to TRIPP. Armenia's ambassador to Iran, Grigor Hakobyan, met a delegation of Iranian MPs in Tehran on November 2 and briefed them on the latest TRIPP agreements. Iran's envoy to Armenia, Khalil Shirgholami, told reporters in Yerevan a few days earlier that Tehran was keeping an open mind, but said Iran would have little tolerance for any American security presence as part of TRIPP's operations. "It is important for us [i.e. Iran] that during the discussion of the TRIPP project or any other matter, the territorial integrity and national sovereignty of Armenia are respected," he said.
Rancor between Armenia and Russia continues. The Kremlin has reportedly threatened to cut off crucial gas supplies to Armenia unless Yerevan abandons its efforts to pivot away from Moscow toward the West. Pashinyan, speaking at a forum in Brussels on November 4, predicted Armenia would be ready to apply for EU membership no later than 2028. "For our people, democracy is not a matter of circumstances. It is a strategic choice," he said.