Surprisingly, despite being in a prime location to act as a transit state in the Caucasus region, Armenia is almost completely isolated. Since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, it has been stuck between hostile countries, namely Azerbaijan, which fought a war with Armenia over the Nagorno-Karabakh region, and Turkey, which supported Azerbaijan in the conflict. To buffer itself, Armenia has come to rely on Russian economic and military support, coming primarily through Georgia. Meanwhile to the south, Iran, largely because of sanctions, failed to become Armenia's alternative trade and energy partner. Another Alternative? Yet an agreement between the six world powers (France, Russia, the United States, the United Kingdom, China and Germany) and Iran paved the way for Tehran to become more politically and economically assertive in the region.