🇺🇸🇦🇲🇦🇿🇷🇺🇮🇷 Armenia’s ‘Trump Route’ widens the fault line between Washington, Tehran, and Moscow

The South Caucasus is becoming a live test of how far Washington can push into Russia and Iran’s shared perimeter before the backlash begins.

On the eve of Armenia’s crucial parliamentary elections on 7 June, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, during a brief visit to Yerevan on 26 May, signed three highly significant agreements in a meeting with Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan.

These included the “Framework Agreement between the Republic of Armenia and the United States of America on Strategic Cooperation Concerning the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity (TRIPP),” the “Charter on Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between the Republic of Armenia and the United States,” and the “Republic of Armenia–United States of America Framework For Securing of Supply in the Mining and Processing of Critical Minerals and Rare Earths.”

Rubio’s brief visit, which lasted only about an hour at Yerevan Airport, was a clear signal of US support for Nikol Pashinyan’s government ahead of Armenia’s pivotal parliamentary elections on 7 June.

Over the past several years, Pashinyan’s administration has gradually distanced itself from the Russian Federation and Moscow-led regional institutions, including the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) and, more recently, the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), while seeking closer ties with the EU, NATO, and the US.

In this context, the US secretary of state, who traveled to Yerevan two weeks before the elections, expressed strong support for Pashinyan and his team.

US President Donald Trump also wrote in a post on Truth Social: 

“Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, of Armenia, a great friend and Leader, is making his Country strong, wealthy, and very secure! Nikol completely shares my vision of PEACE and PROSPERITY for Armenia and the entire South Caucasus region…. Nikol has my COMPLETE and TOTAL Endorsement for Re-Election on June 7, 2026.”

The three agreements signed during Rubio’s visit to Yerevan – particularly the TRIPP Agreement  – should be viewed as a continuation and complement to the peace agreement signed by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Pashinyan at the White House on 8 August, 2025, under the mediation of Trump. 

Strongly critical of Pashinyan’s policies regarding Nagorno-Karabakh, these nationalist and conservative groups maintain hardline positions toward both Azerbaijan and Turkiye. They have traditionally enjoyed closer relations with Iran and Russia while maintaining a cautious and carefully calibrated distance from the west.

Opposition parties and political groups in Armenia argue that the large-scale “Trump Route” project is, in essence, the same transit corridor long sought by Azerbaijan under the name of the “Zangezur Corridor” and strongly supported by Ankara.

In Iran, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hamid Baghaei also reacted to Rubio’s visit and the signing of the Trump Agreement, stating:

“The Islamic Republic of Iran’s position regarding security in the South Caucasus is clear and leaves no room for ambiguity. Iran welcomes the expansion of economic exchanges and the reopening of transportation and transit routes. However, given the United States’ long record of hostile conduct and intervention in various regions of the world, Iran harbors serious suspicions regarding Washington’s intentions and has explicitly expressed its opposition to any such destabilizing presence in the region.”

In recent weeks, Russian officials have openly warned Armenia, particularly in connection with the possibility of its withdrawal from the EAEU, about potential consequences, including higher gas prices or the suspension of preferential energy arrangements, restrictions on imports of Armenian goods, limitations on the diamond and energy trade, and even a reassessment of certain areas of economic cooperation.

🔗 https://thecradle.co/articles-id/38091

🇷🇺⚔️🇺🇦 The situation in Konstantinovka deteriorated for the Ukrainian army as Russian troops have consolidated control over a low density neighbourhood in the city's northwest.

Last week, as reported by many observers, Ukraine finalised the withdrawal of its drone operators from the city as it was too dangerous for them to stay with so many infiltrations by Russian troops.

Russian troops infiltrated the area from the village of Illinovka where some scattered Ukrainian positions still hold out. The Ukrainians remain entrenched in Konstantinovka's central microdistrict thanks to its apartment buildings which provide ample cover.

Battles like Pokrovsk-Myrnograd, Avdeevka and Toretsk have shown that the Ukrainians can keep a sustained defense even when semi-encircled however the few soldiers from the units stuck in cities under such circumstances make it out alive retreating towards their own lines.

🔗 Map by Thorkill

🇺🇸🇮🇷⚡️ — Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner quietly visited the Oak Ridge nuclear facilities in Tennessee to meet with leading U.S. nuclear specialists as talks with Iran enter a decisive stage, Axios reports.

➡️ A team of around 100 experts has recently been assembled to support the implementation of a potential nuclear agreement. The discussions focused on technical preparations, with some of the specialists having recently participated in the recovery of enriched uranium from Venezuela.

➡️ Officials described the group as among the top nuclear experts in the U.S., tasked with handling the technical requirements of any future deal with Iran.

🇮🇷⚔️🇺🇸 Mohsen Rezaei, military adviser to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei and former IRGC commander-in-chief, told CNN in an interview in Tehran:

▪️ “The negotiations are at a deadlock and Trump must break this deadlock. The ball is in Trump’s court”

▪️ Iran demanding $12B in frozen assets released immediately upon signing an interim deal, another $12B in a subsequent phase

▪️ Ruled out a Khamenei-Trump meeting: “This will not happen”

▪️ If U.S. resumes conflict, Iran will “expand the war beyond the Persian Gulf” to the Indian Ocean, Red Sea, and Mediterranean

▪️ Iran and Oman will jointly manage the Strait of Hormuz and charge a maintenance fee

▪️ Warned U.S.-Israel against ground war/invasion. “Our land power is many times greater than our missiles”

🔗 DropSite

🔽 🇺🇸 🕯 The S&P 500 just erased nearly -$2 trillion of market cap just hours after 3rd strongest US jobs report in 18 months.

JOLTs data showed that US job openings surged by a massive 731,000 jobs in April while no change was expected.

As a result, available employment hit 7.6 million for the month, the highest since May 2024.

Inflation is now back up to 3.8% in the US amid the Iran War.

Adding even more fuel to the fire is the drawdown in crypto, with Bitcoin now down -53% since October.

In fact, Bitcoin is down 20% this week ALONE, with crypto erasing ~$2.5 trillion since October 2025.

Then, FT said Meta is considering raising "tens of billions of dollars" through a stock offering to fund AI.

This would be similar to the $85B equity raise by Google.

And to top it all off, SpaceX's $75B IPO is just days away.

Sum it all up, and the market, which was up 20%+ in 2 months was overdue for today's decline.

📎 KobeissiLetter

🇦🇱🤝✡️ Albanian PM Edi Rama met with local residents in Zvernec and said the Trump-Kushner resort project will move forward despite ongoing protests.

"Not 500, but even if 500,000 people come out, it will not be enough. 800,000 are on my side" Rama said referring to the votes he got last elections.

🔗 kos_data

🇮🇷💥❓ Iranian netizens report explosions and AA activity on Kharg Island, Iran's main oil export terminal

🔗 https://t.iss.one/shin_persian/6534