Narek Karapetyan, the nephew of Russian–Armenian tycoon Samvel Karapetyan, has published a video from the Armenia–Iran border, where he said that the planned Trump Route could become a target for Iran.
Narek Karapetyan published the video to support his argument for the necessity of a ‘guaranteed’ peace in Armenia, a common talking point among other opposition forces in the country calling for opposing superpowers — Russia, the US, China, and Iran — to become guarantors of peace in the country.
Narek Karapetyan filmed the video near Armenia’s southern border with Iran, pointing to the area where he said the Trump Route would pass. The border with Iran lies just ‘30–40 meters away’, Narek Karapetyan said, suggesting a scenario in which an American company and Iranian armed forces could be positioned in such close proximity.
The route, agreed upon by Armenia and Azerbaijan with US mediation, would connect Azerbaijan to its exclave Nakhchivan through Armenian territory.
He referred to Iran’s strikes on US ‘military bases’ in the Middle East throughout the US–Israel–Iran war that broke out in early 2026, arguing that the route would create a serious security risk for Armenia. Its development and operation will be overseen by the TRIPP Development Company, with the US holding a 74% stake in the company and Armenia 26%.
Karapetyan posed a rhetorical question about what would happen in case fighting resumes and Armenia hosted a ‘solely American company’ close to the Iran border, suggesting Iran could respond with force, and not necessarily with long-range missiles.
‘It is 30–40 meters, [Iran] could hit with an assault rifle, even if it threw a slipper it would reach [the route]’, Karapetyan said, explaining the need for what he described as ‘guaranteed peace’.
‘The main goal of that guaranteed peace is that, apart from the US, which is a witness and must become a guarantor, Iran, as well, should also be a guarantor of peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan, and a guarantor of Armenia’s territorial integrity’, Karapetyan said.
He did not explain how such competing states with tensions of their own would be brought together to guarantee peace in Armenia.
Separately, during a press briefing on 7 May, Samvel Karapetyan named three ‘superpowers’ that could act as guarantors: the US, Russia, and China.
‘There are also states with regional interests. We will have guarantees from several of these states at the same time — those with whom we can reach agreements. I am confident there will be more than one’, Samvel Karapetyan said.
He also criticised the current peace process led by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s government, describing it as ‘Azerbaijan’s peace agenda dictated to the Armenian nation’, warning of continued risks for Armenia, including potential territorial losses in Syunik in Armenia’s south.
Aside from Karapetyans, other opposition figures have also emphasised the need for external guarantors.
Ex-president Robert Kocharyan, who leads the opposition Armenia Alliance, has argued that ‘peace must be guaranteed’, saying what has been achieved under the current government ‘is not peace’.
At their first pre-election rally on 8 May, Kocharyan outlined a security model based on ‘a strong army, a strong leader, and an ally’, implicitly referring to Russia.
‘We are striving for peace, but peace must be sustainable and guaranteed — guaranteed and with guarantors. Peace cannot be called a situation where everything depends on the whim of one person [Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev]. This is not peace; it is humiliation, and we will not allow that’, Kocharyan said.
Kocharyan has previously named Russia, the US, and China as potential guarantors.
Separately, Gagik Tsarukyan, one of Armenia’s wealthiest men and the leader of the Prosperous Armenia party, has also argued for guarantees from major powers, naming China, India, and Russia, and saying he has the necessary connections to facilitate such arrangements.
‘I have been cooperating with the Communist Party of China for 20 years, and we have been cooperating with Russia’s United Russia for 20 years. From them, only guarantees are required’, Tsarukyan said.
He further elaborated on his vision of deal with Azerbaijan — ‘If Aliyev and I agree that whatever happened in the past is in the past and we can consider that it should not have happened, but today our border is ours and yours is yours, and whoever violates it must be punished — let’s sign it, and the neighbouring states will provide their guarantees’, Tsarukyan said.
He questioned Pashinyan’s established peace, arguing that no binding document has been signed, and also referred to Pashinyan’s claims about the possibility of renewed conflict if the opposition comes to power, as well as to increasing demands from Aliyev.
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