Israel-Azerbaijan Cooperation Primarily Aimed at Iran, Tatevik Hayrapetyan

Expert on Azerbaijani matters and former MP Tatevik Hayrapetyan shared her thoughts in a telegram post:

“I promised to comment on the visit of the Israeli Defense Minister to Baku, but due to events, I couldn’t. Now I will try to briefly summarize some statements made before and after the visit. The day before the visit, the Israeli Foreign Minister announced that Iran was behind the attempted attack on the Israeli embassy in Baku. “Iranian terrorism is a global threat, as we saw in recent days when there was an attempt to attack the Israeli embassy in Baku, as well as in recent months’ attempts to attack Israelis and Jews in Cyprus and Greece,” said Eli Cohen.

It is also noteworthy that two days before Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant's visit, an Afghan citizen was arrested in Azerbaijan for attempting terrorism. Various sources tried to associate him with Iran and presented it as if there had been an attempted attack on the Israeli embassy in Baku.

During the visit to Azerbaijan, the Israeli Defense Minister met with Azerbaijani President Aliyev, the Minister of Defense, and several other officials. The released press statements were general, mentioning that issues related to military and political cooperation were discussed. At the end of the visit, however, the Israeli official made anti-Iranian statements.

“In recent years, Iran has been carrying out an unprecedented global terrorist campaign against Israelis and Jews worldwide. There have been more than 50 such attempts in recent years. Most of them have been thwarted at the last moment. Thanks to close cooperation with many countries and the understanding that Iran is a global threat, we have prevented these attempts and saved lives,” declared Yoav Galant.

It is noteworthy that during the visit, an article by Ali Akbar Velayati, an advisor on international issues to Iran’s spiritual leader, was published. Immediately after Galant’s visit, the Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces, Mohammad Bagheri, traveled to the East Azerbaijan Province, which borders Armenia, Nakhichevan, and the occupied territories of Artsakh. I believe this was a symbolic response from Iran to Galant's visit.

Overall, it is clear that Israeli-Azerbaijani cooperation is primarily aimed at Iran. Iran is presented as a “terrorist country,” and against this backdrop, Azerbaijan is receiving significant support from the West. This certainly poses a major danger to the already fragile stability of the region. In fact, Azerbaijan has become a destabilizing factor in our region with its actions. Israel provided unprecedented support to Azerbaijan during the aggression against Artsakh in 2020; therefore, Azerbaijan still has to pay the price for that support...”