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9 March, 14:29
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Iran denies involvement in drone attack on Azerbaijan’s Nakhchivan

Iran has denied involvement in the drone attack that injured four people in Azerbaijan’s Nakhchivan exclave on March 5, which Baku had blamed on Tehran. The remarks were made by Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian during a phone call with his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev on Sunday.

Two drones fired from Iran landed at the airport and a school near Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic on Sunday, injuring civilians and triggering strong response from Baku. Aliyev pledged to retaliate to what he described as a “terror act”. The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry said it retained the legal right to respond to the attack, with local media outlets reporting troops reinforcement on the border with Iran and mobilization. According to the readout of the phone conversation between the two leaders, posted on Azerbaijani presidential website, Masoud Pezeshkian said the incident involving the airstrike on Nakhchivan had no connection with Iran, emphasising that the incident would be investigated. Furthermore, Pezeshkian “expressed his gratitude to President Ilham Aliyev for his visit to the Iranian Embassy in Azerbaijan to offer condolences over the passing of the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei, and numerous civilians, as well as for his intention to provide humanitarian aid to Iran.”

In turn, Ilham Aliyev “once again expressed his condolences over the death of numerous civilians in the recent events in Iran” and “underlined the importance of investigating the incident that occurred in Nakhchivan.” The phone conversation was followed by resumption of cargo flow between the two countries and the reopening of flights from Baku to Nahchivan exclave on Monday.

It should be noted that on March 7, Azerbaijan’s State Security Service, DTX, said it thwarted an terror plot by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, IRGC, including possible strikes on Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline, and on Azerbaijan’s Mountainous Jewish community, a synagogue in Baku and the Israeli Embassy in Baku. According to reports, the group behind the alleged plot consisted of several Iranian and Azerbaijani citizens who were detained after allegedly bringing explosive materials into the country.