Iran holds military exercises near Azerbaijan border, issues warning through movements of tanks and military vehicles

Tehran/Baku: – Tension has increased between Iran and Azerbaijan. Iran has been conducting large-scale military exercises near the Azerbaijan border since Friday, including tanks and military vehicles. The Iranian Foreign Ministry warned that the practices were in response to those posing a challenge to Iranian sovereignty. Iran also warned that it would not tolerate Israel’s presence near its borders. Iran seems to have given this warning because of the cooperation developing between Azerbaijan and Israel.

Tensions between Iran and Azerbaijan have been rising since the 44-day conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia last year. In the past two months, Iran has accused Azerbaijan’s military of looting Iranian freight trucks by imposing additional taxes. But a few days ago, the Azerbaijani army arrested Iranian truck drivers. Azerbaijan accused Iranian trucks of illegally transporting goods into the Armenian territory. But Iran has criticised that there is no truth in the allegations levelled by Azerbaijan.

Following this, news and videos surfaced of Iran gathering large troops near the Azerbaijan border. It is claimed that tanks, artillery, military vehicles, drones, helicopters and electronic warfare units were deployed near the border with Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev criticised the military movements. The president of Azerbaijan questioned the Iranian intention behind deploying such a large number of troops on the border.

Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh responded to objections raised by Azerbaijan. Khatibzadeh said the largest military exercise in the northeast was in response to those posing challenges to Iranian sovereignty. Khatibzadeh lambasted, ‘Iran will take all necessary measures for its national security. At the same time, Iran will not tolerate the growing influence of Israel near the Iranian border.’ Iran seems to have issued the warning, avoiding explicit mention, targeting the cooperation developing between Azerbaijan and Israel.

The Azerbaijani government has not commented on the matter. But the Azeri Times, a government-affiliated website, threatened Iran. The Azeri Times threatened, ‘If Iran launches an attack on Azerbaijan, it will face major repercussions. Regional as well as international superpowers will get involved in this war. Even these superpowers know that they will not get such a golden opportunity, again, to attack Iran. Iran is well aware of this.’ The Azerbaijani website also said that an Iranian attack on Azerbaijan could drag Israel and Turkey into the war.

Only a few days ago, a lawmaker from Azerbaijan had threatened that Pakistan would go to war with Iran for the security of Azerbaijan if Iran launched an attack. The Azerbaijani lawmaker had threatened to cut off Sistan-Balochistan from Iran, saying Pakistan’s army would infiltrate Iran and cut off Iran’s tail. Another Azeri lawmaker had spoken a language of wiping out Iran from the world map.