Iranian President Masouz Pezeshkian on June 26 called for investigation into Israel’s possible use of Azerbaijan’s territories in Israel’s recent attacks on the country. In a telephone conversation with his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev on Thursday, Pezeshkian urged Baku to investigate and verify reports that Israeli drones and micro air vehicles may have utilized Azerbaijan's airspace to launch strikes against Iran, according to the official Iranian readout of the conversation. According to the report, Aliyev denied these claims and stressed that Baku would under no circumstances allows the use of its territory in attacks against “friendly and brotherly Iran”. However, there is no mention of this exchange in the official handout of Aliyev’s office.
On the same day, the Israeli media quoted an unnamed defence official as saying that the Israeli Defense Forces had been operating in a country "close" to Iran during the war, without providing any further details.
The following day Ilham Aliyev told Iran’s incoming ambassador Mojtaba Demirchilou that “certain circles and media representatives were spreading rumors and false information aimed at damaging Azerbaijan-Iran relations” against the backdrop of the twelve-day war. The Azerbaijani leader described all such claims as complete nonsense. In turn, Ambassador Demirchilou said Iran-Azerbaijan ties were based on “friendship, neighborliness, and brotherhood”. He also expressed Iran’s gratitude for Azerbaijan’s “principled and firm position” regarding the recent tensions between Iran and Israel.
It should be noted that on the first day of the war, on June 13, Azerbaijan’s Foreign Minister Ceyhun Bayramov said that Baku will not allow its territory to be used in any country’s strikes on Iran. In a phone conversation with his Iranian counterpart Abbas Aragchi, Bayramov also called for the end of the hostilities in line with the international law. Baku also addressed rumors of Mossad agents being to sent to Iran via Azerbaijan’s territory. Azerbaijani presidential aide Hikmat Hajiyev dismissed such allegations as “fake news and baseless accusations." "Certain media and social media accounts have recently circulated entirely unfounded and fabricated claims suggesting that Azerbaijan has recruited ethnic Azerbaijanis as agents and deployed them into Iran on behalf of Israel," Hajiyev said on X.
