{"id":34120,"date":"2026-02-11T08:39:47","date_gmt":"2026-02-11T06:39:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/?p=34120"},"modified":"2026-02-11T08:39:48","modified_gmt":"2026-02-11T06:39:48","slug":"us-vice-president-jd-vance-visits-armenia-and-azerbaijan-to-advance-peace-and-discuss-energy-deals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/us-vice-president-jd-vance-visits-armenia-and-azerbaijan-to-advance-peace-and-discuss-energy-deals\/","title":{"rendered":"US Vice President JD Vance visits Armenia and Azerbaijan to advance peace and discuss energy deals"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><em>7 minute read<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>U.S. Vice President JD Vance conducted a high-profile visit to Armenia and Azerbaijan, aiming to consolidate a fragile U.S.-brokered peace process between the South Caucasus rivals while expanding economic, energy, and security partnerships across the region.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The trip marked the first time a sitting U.S. president or vice president has visited Armenia, underscoring Washington\u2019s growing engagement in a region long dominated by Russian influence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Vance arrived in Yerevan on February 9, 2026, before traveling to Azerbaijan\u2019s capital, Baku, the next day as part of a diplomatic push to turn preliminary agreements between the two countries into a formal peace treaty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In Yerevan, Vance met Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and signed an agreement to advance cooperation in the civil nuclear sector, opening the door for major U.S. exports and investment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The two leaders confirmed they had completed negotiations on a so-called \u201c123 Agreement,\u201d allowing the United States to license nuclear technology and equipment to Armenia. The deal could enable up to $5 billion in initial U.S. exports and an additional $4 billion in longer-term fuel and maintenance contracts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Armenia is reviewing proposals from multiple countries to build a new nuclear reactor to replace its aging Russian-built Metsamor plant, and the agreement could pave the way for an American project to be selected. \u201cThis agreement will open a new chapter in the deepening energy partnership between Armenia and the United States,\u201d Pashinyan said at a joint press conference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-media-max-width=\"800\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">.<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/VP?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@VP<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/JDVance?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@JDVance<\/a> and PM Pashinyan complete historic bilateral meetings in Armenia <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/GbKSjQKmi0\">pic.twitter.com\/GbKSjQKmi0<\/a><\/p>&mdash; Taylor Van Kirk (@VPPressSec) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/VPPressSec\/status\/2020930480175219020?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">February 9, 2026<\/a><\/blockquote> <script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n\n\n\n<p><br>Armenia has long depended on Russia and Iran for energy, but officials in Yerevan have increasingly sought to diversify partners. Analysts say the nuclear agreement reflects a broader geopolitical shift as Russia\u2019s influence in the South Caucasus weakens following its war in Ukraine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In addition to nuclear cooperation, Vance said Washington was prepared to export advanced computer chips and surveillance drones to Armenia and invest in infrastructure projects. The vice president framed the outreach as part of a wider effort to strengthen Armenia\u2019s economy and integrate it into regional trade networks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Pashinyan described the visit as \u201cof truly historic and symbolic importance\u201d and said it \u201creflects the depth of the strong and strategic partnership forged between the Republic of Armenia and the United States of America.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Vance said the United States was focused on helping Armenia move toward peace and prosperity. \u201cPeace is not made by cautious people,\u201d he said. \u201cPeace is not made by people who are too focused on the past. Peace is made by people who are focused on the future.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><br><strong>Peace Process and Corridor Project<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The visit follows an August 2025 White House summit hosted by President Donald Trump, where Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev signed a joint declaration committing to a future peace treaty. Foreign ministers from both countries initialed a draft agreement, but it has yet to be formally signed or ratified by either parliament.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A key element of the proposed settlement is a major transit corridor through southern Armenia connecting Azerbaijan with its Nakhchivan exclave. The route, known as the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity (TRIPP), is envisioned as a road-and-rail network linking Central Asia and the Caspian region to Europe while bypassing Russia and Iran.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignleft size-large is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/US-Azerbaijan-Armenia-leaders-meeting.jpg?ssl=1\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1016\" height=\"678\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/US-Azerbaijan-Armenia-leaders-meeting.jpg?resize=1016%2C678&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"U.S. President Donald Trump with President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and the Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan\" class=\"wp-image-30804\" style=\"width:840px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/US-Azerbaijan-Armenia-leaders-meeting.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/US-Azerbaijan-Armenia-leaders-meeting.jpg?resize=300%2C200&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/US-Azerbaijan-Armenia-leaders-meeting.jpg?resize=768%2C512&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/US-Azerbaijan-Armenia-leaders-meeting.jpg?resize=589%2C392&amp;ssl=1 589w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/US-Azerbaijan-Armenia-leaders-meeting.jpg?w=1200&amp;ssl=1 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1016px) 100vw, 1016px\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em><sup>U.S. President Donald J. Trump hosts the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and the Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan, for a peace summit at the White House in Washington, D.C., on August 8, 2025. (Image Credit: The White House\/via X)<\/sup><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>The corridor has been one of the most contentious issues between the two countries. Azerbaijan views the opening of regional communications as a precondition for a comprehensive peace treaty, while Armenia has sought guarantees of sovereignty and security.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The planned route would provide Azerbaijan with a direct land link to Nakhchivan and onward to T\u00fcrkiye, its key ally. It could also facilitate pipelines, fiber-optic cables, and trade routes that would reshape regional connectivity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Vance said the initiative would help deliver both stability and economic growth. \u201cWe\u2019re not just making peace for Armenia,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re also creating real prosperity for Armenia and the United States together.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><br><strong>Background of the Conflict<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Armenia and Azerbaijan have fought two wars over the disputed Karabakh region, known internationally as Nagorno-Karabakh. The region was controlled by ethnic Armenian forces backed by Armenia from the early 1990s until a six-week war in 2020 allowed Azerbaijan to regain significant territory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In September 2023, Azerbaijan launched a military operation that ended three decades of separatist rule and restored full control over the region. Most of the enclave\u2019s estimated 120,000 Armenian residents fled to Armenia following the offensive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The conflict has left deep mistrust between the two nations, with unresolved issues including prisoners, missing persons, and the status of cultural and religious heritage sites in areas captured by Azerbaijan.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignleft size-large is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/US-Vance-Azerbaijan-Aliyev.jpg?ssl=1\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1016\" height=\"678\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/US-Vance-Azerbaijan-Aliyev.jpg?resize=1016%2C678&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"U.S. Vice President JD Vance and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev\" class=\"wp-image-34123\" style=\"width:840px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/US-Vance-Azerbaijan-Aliyev.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/US-Vance-Azerbaijan-Aliyev.jpg?resize=300%2C200&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/US-Vance-Azerbaijan-Aliyev.jpg?resize=768%2C512&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/US-Vance-Azerbaijan-Aliyev.jpg?resize=589%2C392&amp;ssl=1 589w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/US-Vance-Azerbaijan-Aliyev.jpg?w=1200&amp;ssl=1 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1016px) 100vw, 1016px\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em><sup>U.S. Vice President JD Vance and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev at the Zagulba Presidential Residence in Baku, Azerbaijan, on February 10, 2026. (Image Credit: X\/@VP)<\/sup><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>During his trip, Vance said the issue of Armenian detainees held in Azerbaijan was \u201ccertainly going to come up\u201d in discussions with Azerbaijani leaders. More than 20 Armenian human rights groups have urged Washington to press for the release of detainees, and protests in Yerevan called for similar action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><br><strong>Visit to Azerbaijan and Strategic Partnership<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>After leaving Armenia, Vance traveled to Baku, where he met President Aliyev and signed a strategic partnership agreement between the United States and Azerbaijan. The agreement covers defense cooperation, security, and economic ties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Vance said the agreement \u201cwill formalize that partnership and make it very clear that the United States\u2013Azerbaijan relationship will stick.\u201d He also announced plans to provide patrol boats to help Azerbaijan protect its territorial waters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Aliyev said relations with Washington were \u201centering a new phase,\u201d particularly in defense cooperation through equipment sales and counterterrorism coordination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The United States has played a sustained mediating role between the two countries, and officials say the visit was intended to advance Trump\u2019s peace efforts and promote the TRIPP corridor project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Vice President Vance before departing Armenia this morning:<br><br>&quot;Part of keeping the peace is what we&#39;re doing today, which is building upon it, making sure that we have the economic interdependence between Armenia and Azerbaijan that&#39;s necessary to make the peace deal stick.&quot; <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/vvNIDv5TuM\">pic.twitter.com\/vvNIDv5TuM<\/a><\/p>&mdash; Vice President JD Vance (@VP) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/VP\/status\/2021299243546243436?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">February 10, 2026<\/a><\/blockquote> <script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n\n\n\n<p><br>The U.S. State Department described the trip as part of a broader strategy to promote stability and economic integration across the South Caucasus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><br><strong>Controversies and Sensitivities<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The trip also sparked controversy after a post on the official U.S. vice presidential account said Vance and his wife had laid a wreath \u201cat the Armenian Genocide memorial to honor the victims of the 1915 Armenian genocide.\u201d The post was later deleted, with Vance\u2019s office saying it had been published in error by staff not part of the delegation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The issue remains highly sensitive. Armenia has long sought international recognition of the mass killings of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire as genocide, while Turkiye rejects the label and disputes casualty figures. President Trump previously avoided using the term in official commemorations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Despite the tensions, the visit highlighted Washington\u2019s growing involvement in the South Caucasus and its efforts to reshape regional dynamics through diplomacy, trade, and security cooperation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With negotiations still ongoing and the draft peace treaty awaiting final signatures and ratification, Vance\u2019s trip is seen as an attempt to push both sides toward a final settlement after nearly four decades of conflict.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Whether the combination of economic incentives, security guarantees, and infrastructure projects can deliver lasting peace remains uncertain, but U.S. officials say the goal is to transform the region into a corridor for trade, energy, and stability linking Asia and Europe.<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-media-max-width=\"800\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">.<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/VP?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@VP<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/JDVance?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@JDVance<\/a> and Azerbaijan President Aliyev sign a charter on strategic partnership between the U.S. and Azerbaijan <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/YevGjfLIIT\">pic.twitter.com\/YevGjfLIIT<\/a><\/p>&mdash; Taylor Van Kirk (@VPPressSec) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/VPPressSec\/status\/2021297192577757448?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">February 10, 2026<\/a><\/blockquote> <script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>U.S. Vice President JD Vance conducted a high-profile visit to Armenia and Azerbaijan, aiming to consolidate a fragile U.S.-brokered peace process between the South Caucasus rivals while expanding economic, energy, and security partnerships across the region.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":34122,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[124,1,125],"tags":[144,143,566,181,134,152,49,71,113,296,7],"class_list":["post-34120","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-asia-pacific","category-news","category-united-states","tag-armenia","tag-azerbaijan","tag-caucasus","tag-central-asia","tag-economy","tag-energy","tag-peace","tag-politics","tag-security","tag-trade","tag-u-s"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/US-Vance-visits-Armenia-Azerbaijan.jpg?fit=690%2C370&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7jJWb-8Sk","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34120","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34120"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34120\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34126,"href":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34120\/revisions\/34126"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34122"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34120"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34120"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34120"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}