Analyst: Caucasus again gains in strategic importance for Washington  amid growing pressure on Iran and the Russia-West confrontation 

ArmInfo.Caucasus again gains in strategic importance for Washington amid growing pressure on Iran and the Russia-West confrontation, such an opinion was expressed to  ArmInfo by Eduard Abrahamyan, a researcher at the Department of  International Relations and Security at the University of Leicester  (United Kingdom), an expert at the Washington  based Central  Asia-Caucasus Institute,  part of the American Foreign Policy  Council.  

"Bordering with Russia and Iran, the Caucasus is a vital  region in terms of ensuring European energy security. As well as the  most important logistics hub providing US access to Central Asia and  Afghanistan.  And the interest of the Trump Administration in this  region is only increasing, as evidenced by the recent regional visit  of John Bolton. According to its results, one can state the growth of  the White House's attention to regional dynamics and the intention to  continue to develop strategic ties with Armenia, Azerbaijan and  Georgia in the field of security in the context of a competitive  world order, "he stressed.  On October 24-26, a delegation of the US  Department of State headed by presidential Adviser on National  Security John Bolton visited Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia. The  visit was preceded by Bolton talks in Moscow. Russian experts, in  general, described the adviser's Caucasian tour as contrary to the  interests of the Russian Federation, evidence of the intensification  of the US policy towards the Caucasus.

 The analyst considers that according to the strategy of Washington,  voiced by Bolton, Armenia is one of the main priorities for the  United States, Georgia is of great strategic importance, and  Azerbaijan is of strategic importance. In this light, Abrahamyan  believes that within the framework of this evolving strategy, the  South Caucasian countries can potentially perform the function of  "triple deterrence" in relation to both Russia and Iran, as well as  increasingly unreliable Turkey.  In this light, the analyst notes the  inter-relatedness of increasing strategic importance of Georgia to  the United States in the context of ongoing tension in the  Washington-Ankara relationship. In parallel, this process further  intensifies the role of Azerbaijani diplomacy in mediation between  the United States and Turkey. Thus, Abrahamyan believes that the  Administration has all the possibilities for the initiation and  fruitful implementation of a new regional cooperation based on the  US-Caucasus platform. In order to jointly resolve common security  problems.  "Trump and his administration's rise to power against the  background of the crisis in Ukraine significantly contributed to  their awareness of the need to strengthen the US presence in the  adjacent South Caucasus in order to face the challenges coming from  Russia and Iran. In this context, I consider Bolton's Caucasian tour  as an important political message of US activization in Caucasian  affairs. It is also necessary to note the distinctly new image and  strategy of the behavior of the new Administration based on political  pragmatism, while its predecessors preferred purely normative  approaches in Caucasian affairs, "the analyst concluded.