The attacks around midday involved at least two drones that crossed from Iran into Azerbaijan’s exclave of Nakhichevan [GETTY]
Azerbaijan accused Iran on Thursday of firing two drones at its territory, injuring two people, and said it had summoned the Iranian ambassador to issue a strong protest.
The attacks around midday involved at least two drones that crossed from Iran into Azerbaijan’s exclave of Nakhichevan, which borders Iran and is separated from mainland Azerbaijan by Armenia, said a foreign ministry statement.
“One drone fell on the terminal building of Nakhichevan Airport, while another drone fell near a school building in the village of Shekerabad,” the ministry said, damaging the airport and wounding two civilians.
The ministry said it had summoned the Iranian envoy in Baku to express “strong protest” over the attack, which “contradicts the norms and principles of international law and contributes to rising tensions in the region.
“Azerbaijan reserves the right to take appropriate retaliatory measures,” it added.
Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev accused Iran of ‘terrorism’, saying: “Today a terrorist act was carried out from the Iranian side against the territory of Azerbaijan,” at a security council meeting.
Azerbaijan’s military “have been instructed to prepare and carry out retaliatory measures” and “placed on mobilisation level number one, and must be ready to conduct any operation,” he added.
The defence ministry also said it was “preparing the necessary retaliatory measures to protect the territorial integrity and sovereignty of our country and to ensure the safety of civilians and civilian infrastructure.”
“These acts of attack will not go unanswered,” it added.
Iran has long expressed concern that Israel, a close ally of Azerbaijan and a key arms supplier, could use Azerbaijani territory to stage attacks.
“We strongly condemn these drone attacks launched from the territory of the Islamic Republic of Iran, which resulted in damage to the airport building and injuries of two civilians,” Azerbaijan’s foreign ministry said in a statement.
The state also closed part of its airspace in the south after it said four Iranian drones flew across its border.
The airspace will remain closed for 12 hours, according to a notice to airmen (NOTAM) issued by Azerbaijan.
Iran’s armed forces denied the attack, accusing Israel of “disrupting relations between Muslim countries”.
“The Islamic republic of Iran… denies its armed forces launched a drone toward the Republic of Azerbaijan,” the general staff of the armed forces said in a statement, according to state TV, which also blamed Israel.
“Such actions by the Zionist regime, aimed at disrupting relations between Muslim countries in various ways, are not unprecedented.”
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi accused Israel of launching a drone attack in Azerbaijan that was blamed on Iran, describing it as an attempt to harm Tehran’s relations with its neighbour.
In a phone call with his Azerbaijani counterpart Jeyhun Bayramov, Araghchi “denied that Iran fired any projectiles” at Azerbaijan. He also condemned “the role of the Israeli regime in such attacks in order to divert public opinion and destroy Iran’s good relations with its neighbours”, according to a statement from Iran’s foreign ministry.
Last June, Azerbaijan reassured Iran that it would not allow its territory to be used for attacks against Tehran after Israel launched a large-scale strike on Iranian targets.
Tehran has historically been wary of separatist sentiment among its ethnic Azerbaijani minority, which makes up around 10 million of Iran’s 83 million citizens.
