Iran is “increasingly alarmed by the Turkey-Azerbaijan-Pakistan axis,” and held military drills on the border with Azerbaijan. So now a row has ensued between the two countries. Iran and Azerbaijan have had a volatile diplomatic relationship since Azerbaijan gained independence two decades ago. Iran sided with Armenia in the recent Azerbaijan-Armenia conflict. Adding to Iran’s simmering rage is that Azerbaijan has warm relations with Israel.
According to Greek City Times, Iran underestimated regional dynamics:
Despite Tehran’s consistent moral support for Azerbaijan’s war effort, it became clear that there was naivety about the latter’s regional ambitions. Iran was never a part of the new regional reconfiguration that Turkey and Azerbaijan were trying to establish.
Last month, “Azerbaijani soldiers began mistreating Iranian truck drivers along the Goris-Kapan Highway which links Iran to Armenia through the newly Azerbaijani-administered Nagorno-Karabakh region.” Yet Tehran virtually ignored the issue.
Now tensions have escalated “to unprecedented heights, with a war of words occurring between lawmakers from the two countries, and major Iranian military exercises being conducted along large stretches of the Iran-Azerbaijan border.”
According to the Times of Israel, Iran is now lashing out:
Tehran “will take all measures it judges necessary for its national security”, he said, adding, “Iran will not tolerate the presence of the Zionist regime near our borders” — an allusion to Azerbaijan’s relations with Israel.
Nothing else could be expected of the Iranian regime. It is not only insulted by Azerbaijan, but its familiar searing hatred for Israel is now center stage.
Azerbaijan has long had warm relations with Jerusalem. Baku has bought billions of dollars of weapons from Israel and provided the Jewish state with oil.
Iran’s military drills near the Azerbaijan border are the first since Azerbaijan became independent from the former Soviet Union nearly three decades ago. Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev is now criticizing Iran over conducting the drills right on his border; and in a move sure to escalate tensions even more, he took his complaint to the Turkish news agency Anadolu.
There’s no telling how high the Azerbaijan-Iran tensions will flare, and how Pakistan and Turkey might possibly respond given the Turkey-Azerbaijan-Pakistan Axis. Iran is already reported to be slamming Pakistan for its military role in Panjshir, Afghanistan. One thing is known, however: the reconfiguration in the region is taking place due to the weakness of the United States (thanks to Biden).
“Iran Increasingly Alarmed By The Turkey-Azerbaijan-Pakistan Axis,” by Paul Antonopoulos, Greek City Times, September 28, 2021:
Since the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh War, tensions between Iran and the emerging Turkey-Azerbaijan-Pakistan Axis have significantly escalated. It is now glaringly obvious that Iran grossly miscalculated the new reality that would emerge with Azerbaijan capturing Armenian-held territories in the South Caucasus.
A major motivating factor of Azerbaijan’s insistence on controlling Nagorno-Karabakh is the Greater Pan-Turkic project, where Turkey sees itself as the domineering center of a sphere of influence stretching from Istanbul to Western China. Rather than dealing with this project, which supports Turkic separatist ideals in Iran, Tehran decided on pan-Islamic optics and continually congratulated and praised Azerbaijan’s capture of historically-demographically-culturally Armenian territories.
In the first week of the war, three representatives of the Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, issued a joint statement saying: “There is no doubt that Nagorno-Karabakh belongs to Azerbaijan and its government’s move to recapture the region is completely legal, according to Shari’a, and in line with four Resolutions of the United Nation’s Security Council.” In the final days of the war, Khamenei said in a television broadcast that “all Azerbaijani territories occupied by Armenia should be freed. All these lands should be given back to Azerbaijan.”
Despite Tehran’s consistent moral support for Azerbaijan’s war effort, it became clear that there was naivety about the latter’s regional ambitions. Iran was never a part of the new regional reconfiguration that Turkey and Azerbaijan were trying to establish. In fact, it is becoming more evident that Turkey and Azerbaijan have intentions of weaponizing, as part of their pan-Turkic project, the approximate 15-18 million Azeris living in Iran – that is more than the entire population of Azerbaijan.
On December 10, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan recited a poem in Baku during a victory parade celebrating the Azerbaijani victory in Nagorno-Karabakh. The poem, a symbol of pan-Turkism, laments how the Azeri people are divided between Azerbaijan and Iran’s Azeri-majority northwest.
Even with this provocation, Tehran was eager to quickly move on, yet again refusing to acknowledge the shifts in power and influence occurring in the South Caucasus. In August 2021, Azerbaijani soldiers began mistreating Iranian truck drivers along the Goris-Kapan Highway which links Iran to Armenia through the newly Azerbaijani-administered Nagorno-Karabakh region. Once again though, Tehran quickly sidestepped the issue and accepted Azerbaijan’s explanations for harassing their truck drivers.
Tehran’s realization that it had grossly miscalculated its policy towards Nagorno-Karabakh finally came when Turkey, Azerbaijan and Pakistan held joint military exercises. It is worth noting that Pakistan is on Iran’s eastern border whilst Turkey and Azerbaijan are on its northwest and northern border respectively. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh questioned the legality of the exercises, highlighting that according to the Caspian Sea’s legal conventions, the military presence of non-littoral states in this sea is illegal.
However, Iran encouraged Azerbaijan’s violation of OSCE Minsk Group (Russia, the United States and France) objectives and United Nations resolutions on resolving the Nagorno-Karabakh dispute without violence. By doing so, Tehran put itself in a difficult position where on the one hand it was encouraging Azerbaijani violations of international law, but is now complaining that the very same country is violating agreements that directly affect Iran’s own security.
Tensions have now reached unprecedented heights, with a war of words occurring between lawmakers from the two countries, and major Iranian military exercises being conducted along large stretches of the Iran-Azerbaijan border.
According to Tehran Times, one Azerbaijani lawmaker claimed that Pakistan’s army would invade Tehran if it made any hostile move against Baku. Another lawmaker threatened to cut Iran’s tail. Fada-Hossein Maleki, a leading member of the Iranian parliament sitting on the National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, said: “The drills carried out by the governments of Azerbaijan, Pakistan and Turkey are worrying,” adding that Iran is closely following the situation along the Iran-Azerbaijan border. Mohammad Reza Ahmadi Sangari, another Iranian lawmaker, tweeted that the leaders of Baku have been “illusioned” by their victory in Nagorno-Karabakh which was achieved by “Turkish doping.”
Middle East specialist Mikhail Magid believes that the alliance between Turkey, Azerbaijan and Pakistan is directed against Iran, India and Russia, as they are among their biggest challengers to their goals in Afghanistan, Central Asia and the Middle East…..
“Iran holds military drill near Azerbaijan border due to ‘Zionist presence’ there”, The Times of Israel, September 29, 2021:
TEHRAN, Iran — Tehran on Tuesday invoked its “sovereignty” to dismiss Azerbaijan’s concerns over Iranian military exercises near their shared border.
“The drills carried out by our country in the northwest border areas… are a question of sovereignty,” Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said in a statement on the ministry website.
Tehran “will take all measures it judges necessary for its national security”, he said, adding, “Iran will not tolerate the presence of the Zionist regime near our borders” — an allusion to Azerbaijan’s relations with Israel.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev had criticized Tehran over the drills, calling them “a very surprising event.”
“Every country can carry out any military drill on its own territory. It’s their sovereign right. But why now, and why on our border?” he said in an interview with Turkish news agency Anadolu published on Monday.
Fighting broke out between Azerbaijan and Armenia in September last year over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region, claiming some 6,000 lives over six weeks.
A secular, Muslim-majority state, Azerbaijan has long had warm relations with Jerusalem. Baku has bought billions of dollars of weapons from Israel and provided the Jewish state with oil.
The arms deals have sparked controversy and diplomatic flareups between Israel and Armenia, Azerbaijan’s neighbor and rival….