After Tel Aviv called on Baku to “form a united front” against Tehran
The war of words between Iran and Azerbaijan escalated yesterday, when the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned the statements of Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen regarding the agreement with his Azerbaijani counterpart on “forming a united front” against Tehran.
The official Iranian “Al-Alam” TV quoted the “Foreign Ministry” spokesman, Nasser Kanaani, as saying that Tehran considers the statements of the foreign ministers of Israel and Azerbaijan “implicit confirmation of the cooperation of the two sides hostile to Iran,” and calls on Baku to provide “clarifications” on the issue. Kanani added that these statements represent evidence of Israel’s intentions to turn the lands of Azerbaijan into “an arena against Iranian national security.”
Azerbaijan quickly responded to the Iranian threats, saying that Iran would not be able to intimidate Azerbaijan, according to a statement by the Azerbaijani Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in response to Kanani’s statements, which are “unfounded… and represent another step to harm relations between Iran and Azerbaijan.”
The Azerbaijani statement added, “It is the Iranian-Armenian rapprochement that poses a threat to the region at the present time. For the past 30 years, Iran has been silent and turned a blind eye to Armenia’s occupation of Azerbaijani lands. Nor did Iran resent the occupation of Karabakh and eastern Zangezur, nor did it prevent the sale of building stones from destroyed homes in looted areas in Iranian markets, nor did it protest against the destruction and desecration of 65 out of 67 existing mosques.
On Thursday, the Israeli Foreign Minister said that he had discussed with Cypriot President Nicos Christodoulides the inclusion of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard on the list of terrorist organizations. He stated on his Twitter account: “We discussed ways to stop Iranian terrorism, which threatens not only Israel, but the entire world.”
Iran and Azerbaijan escalate their mutual accusations about an Israeli proposal
.