Azerbaijan Denies Claims of Israeli Military Presence on Border With Iran

Relations between Baku and Tehran took a turn for the worse after the armed conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan, due to Baku stopping Iranian trucks going to the disputed territories and Tehran claiming that Azerbaijan had allowed an Israeli military presence on its border with Iran.

Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Leyla Abdullayeva has dismissed Iran's claims of an Israeli presence on the border between the two countries during Iranian war games as false.

"We reject the allegations of any third party’s presence near the Azerbaijani-Iranian border, such allegations are totally baseless".

Leyla Abdullayeva

Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry spokeswoman

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh on the same day reiterated the claim and reminded Azerbaijan that Tehran won't tolerate the presence of outside forces on the Iran-Azerbaijan border. He assured that the Islamic Republic will be doing anything necessary to protect its sovereignty.

"We have reminded our colleagues in Baku of this issue, and they said overtly and covertly that they would give warnings. Baku should not allow third parties to use its borders and territories".

Saeed Khatibzadeh

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman

At the same time, Khatibzadeh confirmed that Tehran sees its relations with both Azerbaijan and Armenia, which fought a war last year, as "good". Still, the ministry's spokesman demanded that Baku treat Iranian nationals who travel to the Armenia-controlled part of the disputed Karabakh territory better. The demand follows reports of Azerbaijan's authorities stopping, searching and imposing tariffs on the drivers of trucks going to the Karabakh region. Baku has expressed displeasure at the growing number of these trucks, despite pledging earlier to allow the movement of vehicles between the parts of Karabakh controlled by the two countries.

Azerbaijan has also criticised Iran for holding its recent war games near the two countries' border, questioning the timing and the intentions of Tehran. Iran dismissed the criticism, saying that the military exercise had been planned in advance and was only meant to show the Islamic Republic's readiness to fend off attacks on its sovereignty.