Asia Times: Azerbaijan plays a central role in the Trump Route project

Published: 2026-01-17 09:52

"As discussions progress between Armenia and the United States on the technical design and cooperative implementation of the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity (TRIPP), Iran has said that it views the project as the functional successor to the earlier ‘Zangezur corridor,’ and as a US-backed encroachment in Armenia’s Syunik border region... A functioning trans-Armenian connector would generate transit fees, expand forwarding and warehousing services, and reduce time and uncertainty costs for shippers by tightening schedules across the South Caucasus segment. It would also strengthen the commercial case for routing additional Middle Corridor volume through the region as capacity expands elsewhere," writes Asia Times, a Canada-based news platform.

"Only Iran and some voices in Russia, however, frame the route primarily as a vehicle for geopolitical rivalry rather than a broadly usable commercial link... In practice, TRIPP would divert transit fees and dilute Iran’s position in regional connectivity and energy-routing competition, benefiting both Armenia and Azerbaijan... TRIPP could thus reduce uncertainties on the western approach without routing all traffic through Iran or Russia. Azerbaijan’s role is operational and central, having already taken steps to enable routine access to Turkey while keeping Caspian-facing integration aligned with Kazakhstan’s scaling plans," the news outlet adds.

By Azerbaijani-Israeli Alliance Global News