Iran says embassy attack should not affect Azerbaijan relations

Tumhari Web January 29, 2023

 On Friday's attack on the Azeri embassy in Tehran, Iran and Azerbaijan disagreed on whether it qualified as a "terrorist act."



Tehran, Iran 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.


According to Raisi's official website, "the governments of Iran and Azerbaijan will not permit bilateral relations to be influenced by the recommendations of those who want ill on the two nations."



"This was an unforeseen crime, but collaboration between the two nations on this must be in a way that no one will find an opportunity to undermine amicable bilateral relations using such instances as an excuse," Aliyev was quoted as saying on the website of the Iranian president.

However, this was not mentioned in the readout of the call by the Azerbaijani presidency, emphasising a point about the incident that has strained relations between Baku and Tehran

Aliyev strongly denounced the "terrorist crime" and emphasised that the shooter "would have attacked additional employees of the embassy and their family members residing in the apartment sector of the embassy property" had it not been for the second guard who subdued the shooter.


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.

 [Translation: I was at the hospital and discovered how the diplomatic staff from the Azerbaijan Republic was being treated. Additionally, I shared Dr. Raisi's sympathies with my colleague (Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Baryamov) over the phone. The Islamic Republic of Iran is prepared to work with you to shed light on the incident's scope. I express my sympathies to the government and people of our neighbour and kin for this awful event.]


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 inquiry.



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


Iran, which is home to millions of people of Azeri descent, has long accused Baku of inciting separatist sentiments in the nation and has also criticised several of its post-conflict plans.

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