live U.S.-Iran standoff continues as Hormuz shipping and diplomacy remain uncertain
Shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz remains limited on Thursday, with no increase in vessel crossings as U.S.-Iran talks to res...
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan met the outgoing U.S. ambassador Kristina Kvien at his office in capital Yerevan on Wednesday (7 January), according to a statement released by his office.
According to the statement, Pashinyan thanked Kvien for “contributing to the consistent development of cooperation and Armenia-U.S. relations.”
He went on to assert that “during Ms. Kvien’s tenure [in Yerevan], relations between the two countries were elevated to a strategic level.”
In January of last year, Armenia signed a strategic partnership agreement with the United States.
At the time, the U.S. State Department said the partnership deal would establish “new avenues” for bilateral cooperation in the economic, security, and defence fields.
The agreement was signed in Washington by Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan and Antony Blinken, who was then serving as U.S. Secretary of State.
Mirzoyan claimed at the time that U.S.-Armenia ties had “matured to a point where upgrading them to a strategic partnership is not only fitting but essential for navigating the complex geopolitical landscape.”
At their meeting on Wednesday, Pashinyan and Kvien also reportedly discussed the planned implementation of the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity (TRIPP).
First proposed last summer, the TRIPP project is a land corridor, which, if completed, would link mainland Azerbaijan to its Nakhchivan exclave via Armenia’s southern Syunik province.
Last August, the leaders of Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a U.S.-endorsed joint declaration aimed at ending decades of tension between the two South Caucasus countries.
Hosted by U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Pashinyan also signed a second agreement paving the way for the implementation of the TRIPP corridor project with U.S. assistance.
In recent remarks to the American Chamber of Commerce in Armenia, Kvien said that the TRIPP corridor would serve to “open trade routes and reconnect Armenia to the global market.”
“TRIPP not only advances regional interconnectivity, it allows Armenia to choose among an array of partners for imports, exports, and joint ventures,” the ambassador added.
The collective-defence agreement between Türkiye, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan signals that regional powers no longer want to rely solely on external security guarantees. Whether it becomes a stabilising deterrent or another axis of rivalry remains unresolved.
Shipping through the Strait of Hormuz has slowed, according to the latest data, as uncertainty over the waterway’s reopening kept most shipowners away. Six commodity vessels crossed the strait on Tuesday, down from nine the day before and below the 10-day daily average of 11.
Shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz remains limited on Thursday, with no increase in vessel crossings as U.S.-Iran talks to resolve the conflict remained stalled. Nine commodity vessels transited the key waterway on Wednesday, unchanged from the previous day, according to Kpler data.
Iran has said the Strait of Hormuz will remain closed until the U.S. fulfils the terms of an interim deal, including lifting the maritime blockade and sanctions and releasing Iran’s frozen assets.
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