Armenia

Armenia is a landlocked South Caucasus republic of roughly 3 million people, bordered by Turkey, Azerbaijan, Iran and Georgia, with its capital at Yerevan. It lost Nagorno-Karabakh to Azerbaijan in September 2023, which pushed it away from Reliance on Russia's security guarantee.

It now balances two partners. Iran gives Armenia its only open trade route that avoids hostile neighbours, through the Meghri-Norduz crossing. In June 2026 Yerevan and Washington signed a framework agreement on the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity (TRIPP), a US-backed transit route through southern Armenia that threatens Iran's northern border trade. Marco Rubio signed on 1 June and Armenia's foreign minister on 4 June.

Yerevan has stayed neutral in the Iran war. It watched IRGC drones strike the airport of neighbouring Nakhchivan, Azerbaijan's exclave, on 5 March 2026. When Pezeshkian came to Yerevan for COP17 in October, Pashinyan told him Armenia wants wider trade and energy ties with Iran.