Armenia starts TRIPP design work before joint venture is incorporated

The Armenian parliament approved a bill authorizing the formation of TRIPP Development Company (TDC) in late October. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said officials were not waiting for incorporation and would immediately begin preparatory work on the corridor. He told MPs on November 2 that the results of the work would be transferred to the company once it was established, according to Eurasianet.

What remains unsigned

The foreign ministers of Armenia and the United States signed the TRIPP agreement in June, and Armenia's parliament is debating its ratification, Azatutyun reported. U.S. and Armenian officials announced in January a preliminary agreement that outlined TDC's ownership structure but left operational details to be settled later, according to Eurasianet. The operating agreement with the United States remains to be finalized, separate from the June TRIPP agreement.

TRIPP was the centerpiece of the provisional peace deal between Armenia and Azerbaijan brokered by the United States in August 2025. At a White House summit on August 8, 2025, Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev initialled an agreement and, with U.S. President Donald Trump, signed a joint declaration, Anadolu Agency reported. The declaration aimed to end decades of conflict, with commitments to cease hostilities, reopen transport routes and normalize relations.

Terms and opposition

The deal calls for a joint venture that will build and manage a railway, a road, energy supply lines and other infrastructure connecting Azerbaijan to its Nakhichevan exclave for at least 49 years. The U.S. government will own 74 percent of TDC, which will receive "exclusive land use rights, development rights, related permissions, and all other rights." The route is to run along Armenia's border with Iran, according to Azatutyun.

Opposition lawmakers say the transit arrangement could call into question Armenian control of the strategic border. Lawmakers from the parliament's two opposition factions also said Azerbaijan has not undertaken to open its territory for cargo shipments to and from Armenia. Narek Karapetian of the Strong Armenia alliance said his main concern was that Azerbaijan would raise new demands once TRIPP is launched. "Its main goal is to get its coveted road but not lift its blockade of Armenia in return," he told parliament, according to Azatutyun. Anna Grigorian, parliamentary leader of the Hayastan alliance, said Azerbaijan's interests are reflected more directly in the document than Armenia's.

Russian and Iranian objections

Russia and Iran have both come out against the route, wary that it will disrupt north-south trade between the two states, Eurasianet reported. The report also said Moscow and Tehran are suspicious of a likely U.S. security presence in the region connected to TRIPP. Iran's envoy to Armenia, Khalil Shirgholami, told reporters in Yerevan that Tehran was keeping an open mind but indicated little tolerance for any American security presence as part of TRIPP's operations. Mirzoyan and other Armenian officials have ruled out such a presence, Azatutyun reported. Armenia's ambassador to Iran, Grigor Hakobyan, met a delegation of Iranian MPs on November 2 to brief them on the latest agreements regarding the project.