YEREVAN (Realist English). U.S. Vice President JD Vance arrived in Armenia on Monday, becoming the first sitting American vice president or president to visit the country, as the Trump administration sought to pair economic engagement with diplomatic pressure to advance a U.S.-brokered peace process between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
During talks in the Armenian capital, Vance and Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan signed an agreement to push forward negotiations on a civilian nuclear energy partnership. Vance said Washington was also prepared to export advanced computer chips and surveillance drones to Armenia, alongside potential investments in national infrastructure.
The visit follows an August meeting at the White House where Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev reaffirmed their commitment to concluding a peace treaty aimed at ending decades of conflict. While the draft text has been initialed by the two countries’ foreign ministers, it has yet to be formally signed or ratified by parliament.
“Peace is not made by cautious people,” Vance said, arguing that lasting agreements require leaders willing to focus on the future rather than past grievances. He is scheduled to travel to Azerbaijan on Tuesday.
Central to the negotiations is a proposed transit corridor — dubbed the “Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity” — that would link Azerbaijan to its Nakhchivan exclave through Armenian territory. The corridor has long been one of the most contentious issues in efforts to resolve the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh.
That dispute dates back to the final years of the Soviet Union and erupted into war in the early 1990s, leaving ethnic Armenian forces in control of the region for nearly three decades. Azerbaijan regained significant territory during the 2020 war and reasserted full control in September 2023, triggering the flight of most of the region’s Armenian population to Armenia.
Vance publicly endorsed Pashinyan ahead of upcoming elections and highlighted Armenia’s early adoption of Christianity as part of its national identity. Pashinyan, in turn, thanked U.S. President Donald Trump and confirmed he would attend the inaugural meeting of Trump’s newly formed Board of Peace in Washington on February 19.
Calling the visit “historic and symbolic,” Pashinyan said it reflected the depth of Armenia’s strategic partnership with the United States.
Vance arrived in Yerevan with his wife, Usha, after attending the Winter Olympics in Milan. The delegation was welcomed with a red-carpet reception and military honour guard, though a small group of demonstrators was visible along the route to the talks.
