HIBAPRESS
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on Thursday ordered the army to prepare to launch retaliatory attacks against Iran, accusing Tehran of carrying out an "unjustified terrorist and aggressive act."
The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry had accused Iran on Thursday of carrying out a drone attack on its Nakhchivan enclave. A ministry statement said a drone crashed near an airport in Nakhchivan and another near a school. The General Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces denied launching any drones towards Azerbaijani territory. Tehran has also repeatedly denied targeting oil infrastructure and other civilian targets in the war, despite its drones and missiles hitting those sites. The incident highlighted Azerbaijan's complex relationship with its neighbor Iran, at a time when Baku has also developed military and economic relations with Israel. Iran's concerns are escalating about the possibility of the United States and Israel exploiting various ethnic minority groups inside Iran to destabilize it while it is under attack. Large numbers of Azerbaijanis live in Iran, and Tehran has accused Baku of allowing Israeli intelligence to operate from there. Azerbaijan, in turn, has sought to provide assurances that its territory will not be used to launch an attack on "neighbor and friend" Iran.
