Silently, regional tensions are voiced as Azerbaijan cites threats and provocations coming from Iran. The Azerbaijani Ministry of Foreign Affairs has outlined a string of concerns that frame Tehran’s posture as destabilizing for the South Caucasus and beyond.
The ministry reported that hostile actions were launched from Iranian territory against Azerbaijan. It pointed to exercises conducted by Iran near the Azerbaijani border, military flights over border zones, publicly critical statements from Iranian officials, and an attack on an Azerbaijani diplomatic mission in Iran as concrete examples of this pressure campaign.
Baku also condemned remarks by Nasser Kanani, the spokesperson for Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which referenced what Tehran calls Azerbaijan’s “anti-Iranian cooperation” with Israel. According to Azerbaijan, Foreign Minister Ceyhun Bayramov did not voice any critical stance toward Iran during a recent joint press conference with Israel’s foreign minister. The Azerbaijani authorities interpreted Kanani’s comments as an anti-Azerbaijani move that seeks to frame Azerbaijan within an adversarial narrative against Iran.
The Azerbaijani side stressed that while Iran claims to view its own security concerns through the lens of regional alliances, it remains clear that Iranian-Armenian cooperation is viewed as a persistent threat to regional stability. Nonetheless, Azerbaijan underscored that these threats from Tehran will not deter it from pursuing its sovereignty and security objectives.
Earlier statements from the Iranian Foreign Ministry press secretary outlined what Tehran believes Azerbaijan should do in response to what it terms anti-Iranian cooperation with Israel. Kanani characterized Israeli foreign policy rhetoric about unity against Iran as evidence of a broader strategy that could involve leveraging Azerbaijani territory against Iran’s security interests. The Azerbaijani response frames such portrayals as attempts to instrumentalize regional dynamics for political leverage rather than genuine concerns about stability.
In a related development, an Azerbaijani ambassador to Israel remarked on the security arrangements surrounding Azerbaijan’s airports. The ambassador asserted that Israel’s Defense Forces would not be allowed to use Azerbaijani airfields as a logistical node in any hypothetical operation targeting Iran. This assurance reflects Baku’s intent to maintain its aviation sovereignty and to manage any potential risks arising from its strategic partnerships in the wider region.