US signs strategic partnership deal with Armenia ahead of elections

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan signed a strategic partnership agreement Tuesday in Yerevan, days before parliamentary elections.

Rubio made the stop in the Armenian capital while returning from a four-day trip to Sweden and India, using the visit to initial an agreement on a major transit corridor linking Azerbaijan with its Nakhchivan exclave through southern Armenia.

The corridor, known as TRIPP (the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity), was agreed under a declaration signed at an August summit by Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and US President Donald Trump.

"This agreement marks the biggest step to date on making this historic route a reality, on advancing peace and on increasing prosperity—in Armenia, and, frankly, on the region," Rubio said at a signing ceremony at the Yerevan airport.

"Our relationship is not simply limited to TRIPP. We are building upon that in so many different ways, and it's a top priority of this administration," he added.

Rubio and Mirzoyan also signed a memorandum of understanding on critical minerals.

Under a framework announced in January, a US-backed TRIPP Development Company would oversee rail, road, energy and digital infrastructure along the corridor for an initial 49-year term, with the US holding a 74% stake. Armenia retains full sovereignty over all project areas throughout, according to the framework.

Armenians are set to vote June 7 in elections seen as a key test for Pashinyan amid shifting regional alliances.