Tehran confirmed that it had expelled four Azerbaijani diplomats, in response to a similar step taken by Baku last month. Tensions between the two neighbors have escalated recently, following a bloody attack on the Azerbaijani embassy in Tehran.
The official Iranian news agency, IRNA, reported on Friday that the Islamic Republic expelled four Azerbaijani diplomats in April “in response” to a similar measure taken by Baku in the same month, according to which it expelled four Iranian embassy employees. IRNA said, “Four diplomats from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan were expelled from Iran last month after they were declared persona non grata.”
What are the expulsion backgrounds?
The agency stated that the decision to expel them was taken by the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs “in response to Baku’s expulsion of Iranian diplomats” in early April.
On that day, Azerbaijan accused four members of the Iranian embassy in Baku of carrying out activities “incompatible with their diplomatic status” and gave them 48 hours to leave the country.
Relations between Azerbaijan and Iran deteriorated in January when a gunman stormed the Baku embassy in Tehran and opened fire inside, killing a diplomat and wounding two embassy security personnel.
On that day, the Azerbaijani Ministry of Foreign Affairs held Iran responsible for the attack, saying that the anti-Azerbaijan campaign in the Iranian press “encouraged” it.
Historically strained relations
But the Iranian Foreign Ministry responded by saying that Tehran strongly condemns the attack, stressing that the attacker’s motives were “personal”.
Relations between the two countries have been tense historically, as Azerbaijan, the former Soviet republic, is a close ally of Turkey, Iran’s traditional adversary.
Tehran also fears that the Azerbaijani lands will be used by Israel, one of the main arms exporters to Baku, to launch a military attack on the Islamic Republic.
