It is naive to believe that Iran will not provoke tensions again

Baku/29.11.21/Turan: During a meeting with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev  on November 28 at the 15th Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) summit in Ashgabat, Iranian President Ibrahim Raisi said that Tehran “had an open and unambiguous position on the Karabakh issue". “From the supreme leader to the officials of state structures, everyone adhered to the position that the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan should be ensured,” he said.

Then he said: "Due to the new conditions in the Caucasus region, we believe that the revival of traditional routes and the facilitation of the movement of goods and passengers in the region in three decades will contribute to the growth and development of ECO." He continued, "We also believe that any change in the political geography of the region will not contribute to stability in the region, and will also pave the way for further tensions in the future."

So what's going on? On the one hand, Raisi expresses support for the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, and on the other, he again returns to accusations of Azerbaijan in the deployment of Israeli forces on the Iranian-Azerbaijani border.

Earlier, after the trilateral military exercises Azerbaijan-Turkey-Pakistan at the end of September, relations between Iran and Azerbaijan deteriorated  significantly. Iran accused Azerbaijan of stationing Israeli forces on the Iranian-Azerbaijani border and held military exercises near its border with Azerbaijan.

In response to these accusations, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev condemned Iran's military exercises near the border and accused Iran of conspiring with Armenia to smuggle drugs into Europe for over 30 years. The Azerbaijani authorities have blocked sites "dealing with Iranian and religious propaganda."

However, some time later, relations between the two countries seemed to be improving. On October 13, Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov and his Iranian counterpart Hossein Amir Abdollahiyan agreed to resolve the diplomatic crisis through dialogue. On October 21, the Azerbaijani authorities released two Iranian truck drivers who were accused of illegally entering the country and violating the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan. These drivers drove through the territory that was liberated by Azerbaijan during the Nagorno-Karabakh war in October 2020 and tried to avoid customs duties. All this speaks in favor of the fact that Azerbaijan and Iran intend to normalize relations.

But, are the frictions between Azerbaijan and Iran left behind? Can Iran be trusted? Political observer Sadraddin Soltan answered these and other questions in the program "Difficult Question".

According to him, the artificial tension provoked by Iran has been left behind. “However, it would be the greatest naivety to believe that tensions will not arise again in the future. The cause of tension is Iran's disrespect for the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Azerbaijan,” the expert said.

He noted that Iran not only showed disrespect for the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, but also in order to deflect the blame for this, made unfounded accusations against Azerbaijan - allegedly there are terrorists, Israeli soldiers, etc. on its territory. “Moreover, Iran tried to threaten Azerbaijan by starting military maneuvers near the Azerbaijani-Iranian border,” he said.

Soltan said that when separatists operate in any country, the bordering country strengthens its border. However, during the occupation of Karabakh, Iran did not strengthen its border, but, on the contrary, made it practically transparent. It was only after Azerbaijan liberated the regions bordering with Iran from the occupiers that Tehran began deploying troops at the border and began to conduct exercises.

“All this shows the attitude of the Iranian leadership towards Azerbaijan, towards its readiness for confrontation. The leaders of Iran consider the existence of an independent, prosperous, democratic Azerbaijan Republic in the north of their border as a threat to themselves,” Soltan is convinced. –0--