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)

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — About 6,000 public schoolteachers in San Francisco went on strike Monday, the city's first such walkout in nearly 50 years.

The strike comes after teachers and the district failed to reach an agreement over higher wages, health benefits, and more resources for students with special needs. The San Francisco Unified School District closed all 120 of its schools and said it would offer independent study to some of its 50,000 students.

“We will continue to stand together until we win the schools our students deserve and the contracts our members deserve," Cassondra Curiel, president of the United Educators of San Francisco, said at a Monday morning news conference.

Teachers with the union were joining the picket line after last-ditch negotiations over the weekend failed to reach a new contract. Mayor Daniel Lurie and Democratic U.S. Rep. Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco had urged the two sides to keep talking rather than shut down schools.

Union members planned a Monday afternoon rally at San Francisco City Hall. Negotiations were scheduled to resume around midday.

“We look forward to receiving the union's counteroffer,” said San Francisco Unified School District Superintendent Maria Su. She told reporters on Monday that the district had put forward a comprehensive package despite entrenched financial difficulties.

“This is a viable offer. It is an offer that we can afford,” Su said. “We will be at the table and we will stay for as long as it takes to get to a full agreement. I do not want a prolonged strike.”

Lily Perales, a history teacher at Mission High School, said many union members can’t afford to live in San Francisco anymore.

“Too many of my colleagues have been pushed out of the city because of the high cost of living, and with our current contract it’s not enough,” she said from a picket line Monday. “We’re willing to be on strike until all of our demands are met.”

Her colleague Aaron Hart, a photography and media arts teacher at Mission High, said schools are understaffed. “That’s why we’re out here. We just really want stability for our students,” he said.

The union and the district have been negotiating for nearly a year, with teachers demanding fully funded family health care, salary raises and the filling of vacant positions impacting special education and services.

The teachers also want the district to enact policies to support homeless and immigrant students and families.

The union is asking for a 9% raise over two years, which would mean an additional $92 million per year for the district. They say that money could come from reserve funds that could be directed back to classrooms and school sites.

SFUSD, which faces a $100 million deficit and is under state oversight because of a long-standing financial crisis, rejected the idea. Officials countered with a 6% wage increase paid over three years. Su said the offer also includes bonuses for all employees if there is a surplus by the 2027-28 school year.

A report by a neutral fact-finding panel released last week recommended a compromise of a 6% increase over two years, largely siding with the district’s arguments that it is financially constrained.

The union said San Francisco teachers receive some of the lowest contributions to their health care costs in the Bay Area, pushing many to leave. Su said the district offered two options: the district paying 75% of family health coverage to the insurance provider Kaiser or offering an annual allowance of $24,000 for teachers to choose their health care plan.

Lurie, who helped broker an agreement that ended a hotel workers union strike after he was elected and before taking office, said that the city agencies were coordinating with the district on how to offer support to children and their families.

“I know everyone participating in these negotiations is committed to schools where students thrive and our educators feel truly supported, and I will continue working to ensure that,” Lurie said in a social media post Sunday.

Teachers in other major California cities were also preparing to strike. San Diego teachers indicated they're ready to walk off the job next month for the first time in 30 years over a stalemate with the school district about special education staffing and services. And members of United Teachers Los Angeles voted overwhelmingly last month to authorize their leadership to call a strike if negotiations with the LA Unified School District fall apart.

A similar strike-authorization vote by the school system’s other largest union, Local 99 of Service Employees International Union, is scheduled to begin next week.

Associated Press reporter Christopher Weber contributed from Los Angeles.

Teachers picket in front of Mission High School in San Francisco on Monday, Feb. 9, 2026. (Brontë Wittpenn/San Francisco Chronicle via AP)

Teachers picket in front of Mission High School in San Francisco on Monday, Feb. 9, 2026. (Brontë Wittpenn/San Francisco Chronicle via AP)

FILE - A pedestrian walks past a San Francisco Unified School District office building in San Francisco, Feb. 3, 2022. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, file)