Vance is in Armenia, a country no sitting US president or vice president has visited before

YEREVAN, Armenia (AP) — Vice President JD Vance landed in Armenia on Monday — a country that no sitting U.S. vice president or president has visited before — as the Trump administration offered economic opportunities while it works to advance a U.S.-brokered deal aimed at ending a decades-long conflict with Azerbaijan.

Vance and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan signed an agreement to push forward negotiations on a civil nuclear energy deal, and Vance said the U.S. was ready to export advanced computer chips and surveillance drones to Armenia, and invest in the country's infrastructure.

The visit comes after Pashinyan signed a deal at the White House in August with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev where the leaders signed agreements reaffirming their commitment to signing a peace treaty. The text of the treaty was initialed by foreign ministers, which indicates preliminary approval. But the leaders have yet to sign the treaty and parliaments have yet to ratify it.

“Peace is not made by cautious people,” said Vance, who plans to travel to Azerbaijan on Tuesday. “Peace is not made by people who are too focused on the past. Peace is made by people who are focused on the future.”

The August deal between the two former Soviet republics calls for the creation of a major transit corridor dubbed the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity. It is expected to connect Azerbaijan and its autonomous Nakhchivan exclave, which are separated by a 32-kilometer-wide (20-mile-wide) patch of Armenian territory.

The land bridge had been a sticking point in resolving a conflict that lasted for nearly four decades over control of the Karabakh region, known internationally as Nagorno-Karabakh. The region had been under the control of ethnic Armenian forces backed by Armenia since 1994. A six-week war in 2020 resulted in Azerbaijan regaining control of parts of the region and the surrounding areas. In September 2023, Azerbaijan launched a blitz that forced the separatist authorities to capitulate. After Azerbaijan regained full control of Karabakh, most of its 120,000 Armenian residents fled to Armenia.

Vance said that the Armenian prime minister had his endorsement in upcoming elections and he emphasized that the country was among the oldest to have identified as Christian.

Pashinyan expressed his gratitude toward President Donald Trump and Vance, noting that he had accepted an invitation to participate in the first meeting of Trump's Board of Peace on Feb. 19 in Washington. The group, founded by Trump, is overseeing the ceasefire plan in Gaza.

He said Vance's visit was “of truly historic and symbolic importance” and it “reflects the depth of the strong and strategic partnership forged between the Republic of Armenia and the United States of America.”

The vice president and his wife, Usha, arrived in Yerevan after spending four days in Milan at the Winter Olympics with their family. They were greeted with a red carpet, an honor guard and a delegation of officials. Armenian and American flags hung from poles from as the delegation drove to the vice president’s meeting, with some demonstrators on the side of the road, including one with a sign that said, “Does Trump support Devils?”

Associated Press writers Josh Boak in Washington and Daria Litvinova in Tallinn contributed to this report.

U.S. Vice President JD Vance and Armenia's Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan shake hands, as they attend a joint press conference, in Yerevan, Armenia, Monday, Feb. 9, 2026. (Kevin Lamarque/Pool Photo via AP)

U.S. Vice President JD Vance holds a copy of 'Joint Statement on the Completion of Negotiations on an Agreement for Peaceful Nuclear Cooperation between the United States of America and the Republic of Armenia', which he and Armenia's Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan signed, at the President's Residence in Yerevan, Armenia, Monday, Feb. 9, 2026. (Kevin Lamarque/Pool Photo via AP)

U.S. Vice President JD Vance and Armenia's Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan hold a joint press conference, in Yerevan, Armenia, Monday, Feb. 9, 2026. (Kevin Lamarque/Pool Photo via AP)

Armenia's Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan shakes hands with Vice President JD Vance, at the President's Residence, in Yerevan, Armenia, Monday, Feb. 9, 2026. (Kevin Lamarque/Pool Photo via AP)

Vice President JD Vance participates in a bilateral meeting with Armenia's Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, not pictured, at the President's Residence, in Yerevan, Armenia, Monday, Feb. 9, 2026. (Kevin Lamarque/Pool Photo via AP)

An honor guard member salutes as U.S. Vice President JD Vance arrives in Yerevan, Armenia, Monday, Feb. 9, 2026. (Kevin Lamarque/Pool Photo via AP)

Armenia's Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, left, welcomes Vice President JD Vance, at the President's Residence, in Yerevan, Armenia, Monday, Feb. 9, 2026. (Kevin Lamarque/Pool Photo via AP)

Iran fired missiles at Israel and some Gulf nations while explosions could be heard around Tehran and the central Iranian city of Isfahan on Friday, as the United States prepared to further reinforce its already significant military forces in the Middle East.

As the war that began Feb. 28 was to enter its sixth week, Israel, Bahrain, Kuwait warned about incoming missile fire, although it was unclear if anything was struck. Activists reported strikes around Tehran and the central city of Isfahan but it wasn’t immediately clear what was hit.

Iran’s attacks on Gulf region energy infrastructure and its tight grip on the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world’s oil and natural gas transits in peacetime, has sent oil prices skyrocketing.

Oil prices surged while Asian financial markets rose moderately during cautious trading. Benchmark U.S. crude rose 11.4% to $111.54 a barrel. The price of Brent crude, the international standard, jumped 7.8% to $109.03 per barrel.

U.S. President Donald Trump said U.S. forces will keep hitting Iran “very hard” in the next two or three weeks.

The largest American aircraft carrier in service sailed out of Split, in Croatia and “remains poised for full mission tasking in support of national objectives in any area of operation,” the Navy’s 6th Fleet announced.

It was unclear where it was going. The USS Abraham Lincoln remains in the Arabian Sea and the USS George H. W. Bush aircraft carrier departed Norfolk on Wednesday to head to the Mideast.

Here is the latest:

Oil prices continued to surge on worries of a prolonged Iran war but the Asian markets that were open Friday rose moderately in cautious trading, while others were closed for the Good Friday holidays.

Benchmark U.S. crude rose 11.4% to $111.54 a barrel. The price of Brent crude, the international standard, jumped 7.8% to $109.03 per barrel.

The U.S. only relies on the Persian Gulf for a fraction of the oil it imports, but oil is a commodity and prices are set in a global market.

The situation is very different in Asia. Japan, for example, relies on access to the Strait of Hormuz for much of the nation’s oil import needs and would need to rely on alternative routes. But some analysts say Japan and oher nations are counting on an agreement with Iran to allow transports.

Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 gained 0.9% in Friday morning trading to 52,938.62. South Korea’s Kospi jumped 2.1% to 5,344.41. The Shanghai Composite sank 0.5% to 3,899.57. Trading was closed in Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Indonesia and India.

Wall Street, where trading is closed Friday, finished its first winning week since the start of the Iran war, although trading started out with a decline driven by a surge in oil prices.

Bangladesh is curtailing office hours and enforcing early closure of malls and shops beginning Friday to handle its energy crisis related to the war.

The country’s cabinet ordered 30% spending cuts for fuel and power at government offices, suspended some staff training and stopped purchases of new vehicles, ships and aircraft. Decorative lighting will not be allowed for celebrations.

Bangladesh, a nation of more than 170 million people, is seeking alternative fuel sources and $2.5 billion in external financing for imports, which account for 95% of its fuel.

Australian Energy Minister Chris Bowen on Friday urged motorists getting away for a long weekend during the Easter holiday to fill up in cities because most of the nation’s fuel shortages are in rural areas.

Among 2,400 gas stations in New South Wales, Australia’s most populous state, 182 had run out of diesel by Friday.

In Australia’s second-most populous state, Victoria, 76 gas stations were out of diesel. In the remaining states ranked by the most populous first, Queensland had 75 stations without diesel, Western Australia had 37, South Australia had 28 and in Tasmania there were seven.

“For those Australians planning a road trip this weekend, given our shortages are predominantly in rural and regional Australia, it makes sense to fill up in the city to help the country if you can,” Bowen said in Sydney.

The government, which blamed regional shortages on panic buying and distribution problems, is concentrating on delivering fuel to farmers for planting crops.

Israeli security forces and rescue teams inspect a site struck by an Iranian missile in Petah Tikva, Israel,Thursday, April 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

A newly constructed bridge struck by U.S. airstrikes Thursday is seen in Karaj, west of Tehran, Iran, Friday, April 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

A newly constructed bridge struck by U.S. airstrikes Thursday is seen in Karaj, west of Tehran, Iran, Friday, April 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

A bridge struck by U.S. airstrikes on Thursday is seen in the town of Karaj, west of Tehran, Iran, Friday, April 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

Israeli security forces and rescue teams inspect a site struck by an Iranian missile in Petah Tikva, Israel,Thursday, April 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

Members from the Popular Mobilization Forces attend a funeral of fighters who were killed in a U.S. airstrike, in Tal Afar, Nineveh province, north of Baghdad, Iraq, Thursday, April 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)

A man with burn wounds from an Israeli airstrike on southern Lebanon sits on a bed at the Sidon Government Hospital in Sidon, Lebanon, Thursday, April 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

A boy who fled with his family following Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon sits inside the van they are using as shelter in Sidon, Lebanon, Thursday, April 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

President Donald Trump arrives from the Blue Room to speak about the Iran war from the Cross Hall of the White House on Wednesday, April 1, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, Pool)