What Happened For the first time ever, U.S. national security adviser John Bolton is calling on the three countries of the South Caucasus. Bolton visited Azerbaijan on Oct. 24, where he met President Ilham Aliyev and highlighted the importance of Azerbaijan's role in the international energy market. One day later, Bolton visited Armenia to meet acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and discuss the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. The U.S. official will round out his tour with a visit to Georgia on Oct. 26. Why It Matters The Caucasus region is a major energy corridor and a geopolitical fault line where Russia, the West and the Middle East intersect, and where, unsurprisingly, numerous external powers have vied for influence . While the Trump administration has been relatively quiet on the region, a variety of factors have put the area on Washington's radar, including the United States' growing confrontation with Iran.