Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry called Iran a state that “supports terrorism and whose name is known for committing terrorist acts in various countries around the world”.
In a statement released on March 30, Azerbaijani Defense Ministry, responded to earlier remarks made by the commander of the Land Forces of the Army of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Kioumars Heydari. In his interview to ParsToday, Heydari claimed that Azerbaijan is “hosting Zionist elements”, referring to Israel – Iran’s archrival, and that ISIS fighters helped Azerbaijan win victory in 2020 Karabakh war against Armenia, which he said are still in Azerbaijani territory.
There are very sensitive issues in the Caucasus. One of them is the presence of elements of the Zionist regime [Israel] on the borders of this country. Iran will not tolerate the presence of Zionist elements in the countries of the region and will resist it.
Kioumars Heydari
Heydari went on to condemn any border changes between Armenia and Azerbaijan and said Iran would not “allow for it”.
In its response, Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry dismissed the claims as ‘vile defamatory and slanderous’.
First of all, we declare that the Iranian side’s accusations about the presence of any foreign forces in the territory of the Republic of Azerbaijan are unfounded and completely unacceptable. In general, there are no extraneous forces in the territory of the Republic of Azerbaijan.
Azerbaijani Defense Ministry
It went on to accuse Iranian regime of being pro-Armenian. “It is obvious that in the world there are two main allies of Armenia, one of which is France, and the other is Iran,” the statement read.
In the last bit of the statement, the ministry responded to the allegation around ISIS involvement, saying that “the glorious Azerbaijan Army single-handedly liberated the occupied territories.” It in turn accused Iran itself of supporting terrorists.
It is ironic and ridiculous that this accusation was made by a high-ranking military officer of a state that supports terrorism and whose name is known for committing terrorist acts in various countries around the world.
Defense Ministry
It is the first time that the Azerbaijani government called Iran a state which supports terrorism, though the relations between the two have been steadily worsening after the second Karabakh war. Most recently, following an armed attack on Azerbaijani embassy in Tehran in late January, Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev blamed “some groups within Iranian establishment” for the attack. Azerbaijan evacuated its embassy personnel after the attack.
Heydari’s comments came after Azerbaijan opened its embassy in Israel on March 29. In a joint press briefing with Azerbaijan’s Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov, Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen announced that the two countries agreed to come close in “a unified front” against Iran.
Israel and Azerbaijan share the same understanding regarding the Iranian threat. Iran threats our region, and creates non-stability in the Middle East by supporting and financing terrorism. We must jointly act against Iran. We must not allow Iran to expand its nuclear opportunities.
Eli Cohen
