Iran Called Azerbaijan a Friend and Brother. Can This Be Believed?

The President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Masoud Pezeshkian, promised to fully resolve the issue of the attack on the Azerbaijani embassy. Pezeshkian made this statement during a meeting with Azerbaijan's Deputy Prime Minister Shahin Mustafayev on October 14. He emphasized the importance of expanding cooperation between the two countries and urged resolving security and related issues:

"For strengthening and promoting security, peace, and communication between countries, there is no need to build walls at borders," Pezeshkian stated.

"You are our brothers, and the expansion of relations between the two countries is very valuable to us. We believe that the sovereignty of any country should not be ignored, but we also do not think it is in the interests of the region to allow external countries into it. By working together, we believe we can resolve security problems and related issues. This has always been the policy of the Islamic Republic of Iran," the Iranian president added.

Can this gesture by Iran be trusted?

This and other questions were discussed on the program Difficult Question by Sadraddin Soltan. According to him, President Masoud Pezeshkian is absolutely right in calling Azerbaijan and Iran brotherly nations, as they share a centuries-old history and the fact that more than 30 million Azerbaijanis live in Iran. However, Iran is unlikely to be considered a friendly nation to Azerbaijan—in fact, quite the opposite.

"It is not the people of Iran who are unfriendly to Azerbaijan, but its leadership. Pezeshkian’s messages about brotherhood and friendship are nothing new. Similar messages came from Mohammad Khatami, Ali Akbar Rafsanjani, and Hassan Rouhani, who were not Turks. Even Ibrahim Raisi, during his meeting with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, spoke of brotherhood and friendship. This is standard diplomatic rhetoric. However, Iran’s actions tell a different story," Soltan emphasized.

The expert explained that there are reasons for this, and even if Pezeshkian wanted to, Iran and Azerbaijan cannot be friendly nations because the Iranian authorities have established certain red lines.

He noted that Pezeshkian cannot disband the Hezbollah organization, which operates in Iran against Azerbaijan as a branch of the IRGC's Quds Force; nor can he bring to justice Ojag Nejat, the former representative of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Azerbaijan. Additionally, Pezeshkian cannot change Iran’s stance on the Zangezur Corridor or ensure the teaching of the Azerbaijani language in educational institutions.

"These issues are key to establishing friendly relations with Azerbaijan," the expert said, adding that Pezeshkian’s sincerity is highly questionable.