Embassy attack should not affect Azerbaijan relations, says Iran

• Ebrahim Raisi told that attack on Baku’s embassy  shouldn’t have an impact on bilateral relations.
• The assault happened on Friday when a guy stormed the embassy with an assault rifle.
• And started shooting, killing the security chief.

Ebrahim Raisi, the president of Iran, has told his Azerbaijani counterpart that the attack on Baku’s embassy in Tehran, which resulted in the death of one person, shouldn’t have an impact on the two countries’ bilateral relations.

The assault happened on Friday when a guy stormed the embassy with an assault rifle and started shooting, killing the security chief and injuring two additional guards.

On a phone contact with Raisi on Saturday to discuss the matter, President Ilham Aliyev of Iran extended his condolences and stated that an investigation was underway.

“The governments of Iran and Azerbaijan will not allow bilateral relations to be affected by the suggestions of those who wish ill on the two nations,” Raisi was quoted as saying on his official website.

The Iranian president’s website also quoted Aliyev as saying “this was an unexpected crime, but cooperation between the two countries on this must be in a way that no one will find an opportunity to disrupt friendly bilateral relations using such incidents as an excuse”.

But the readout of the call by the Azerbaijani presidency made no mention of this, further stressing a point concerning the attack that has divided Tehran and Baku.

Aliyev strongly condemned the “terrorist act” and stressed that had it not been for a second guard who tackled the gunman, “he would have targeted other employees of the embassy and their family members living in the apartment section of the embassy compound”.

Iran’s CCTV footage showed the attacker rushing to the scene with his automobile and colliding with another vehicle that was parked in front of the embassy.

He gets out of the car while carrying a weapon, walks past an unarmed Iranian security guard who is seated at a booth, and then shoots inside the embassy.

A third Azerbaijani guard tackles the attacker while he is shooting at two of them, eventually disarming him.

Aliyev swiftly denounced the occurrence as a “terrorist attack,” and the Azerbaijani foreign ministry called Iran’s ambassador to Baku and announced the evacuation of its diplomatic employees.

While this was going on, top officials in Tehran frequently stated that the incident did not qualify as a “terrorist” act because it was carried out for personal reasons.

باحضور در بیمارستان از روند درمانی کارکنان سفارت جمهوری #آذربایجان مطلع شدم. همچنین در تماس تلفنی با همکارم @Bayramov_Jeyhun پیام تسلیت دکتر رئیسی را منتقل کردم. ج.ا.ایران آماده‌ همکاری برای روشن شدن ابعاد حادثه است.
به دولت و ملت برادر و همسایه،این حادثه تلخ را تسلیت می گویم. pic.twitter.com/iquSTpUn4N

— H.Amirabdollahian امیرعبداللهیان (@Amirabdolahian) January 27, 2023

[Translation:Being in the hospital, I learned about the treatment process of the embassy staff #آذربایجان . Also, in a phone call with my colleague

, I conveyed Dr. Raisi’s message of condolence. Iran is ready to cooperate to clarify the dimensions of the incident. I offer my condolences to the government and nation of our brother and neighbor for this tragic incident.]

Yasin Hosseinzadeh, the assailant, was interviewed by Iranian state media and claimed that he stormed the embassy to “rescue” his wife, who he claimed had vanished after entering it over a year ago.

The man’s two young children, whom he reportedly brought with him to the embassy and who were in the car during the attack, were also interviewed by Iranian state television.

The man’s daughter claimed that although her mother had returned to Baku, where she was from, her father thought she was still at the embassy.

Numerous nations, including the US, Turkey, and Russia, denounced the attack and demanded an open enquiry.

The strike comes after months of hostilities between Iran and Azerbaijan, two neighbors; Azerbaijan is a close ally of Turkey, Iran‘s longtime foe.

Millions of Azeris live in Iran, which has long accused Baku of inciting separatist sentiments there. Iran has also objected to certain of Baku’s post-Nagorno-Karabakh war plans that could have an impact on Armenia’s borders.

Tehran has moreover regularly cautioned Baku against deepening military ties with Israel, claiming that Israel may utilize Azerbaijani territory as a base of operations against Iran.

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