Visiting Yerevan on Monday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio signed a strategic partnership with his Armenian counterpart. The visit carries important symbolic value ahead of crucial elections in the country. But this wasn’t just about photos and pleasantries.

Rubio signed three agreements in Yerevan. These included a critical minerals cooperation deal and a framework advancing the TRIPP corridor, a Trump-branded road and rail route connecting Azerbaijan with its isolated Nakhchivan exclave through Armenian territory. The corridor, central to last August’s Armenia-Azerbaijan peace deal, adds American weight to a region once locked in Russia’s orbit. Indeed, it revives the ancient Silk Road on American terms.