Investigate Use of Azerbaijani Airspace to Attack Iran
President Masoud Pezeshkian of Iran has asked his Azerbaijani counterpart, Ilham Aliyev, to investigate whether Azerbaijani airspace was used by Israel to launch attacks against Iran.
Pezeshkian spoke to Aliyev Thursday to discuss the situation involving the Iran-Israel conflict and called for the investigation.
“Dr. Pezeshkian stressed the need to investigate reports of Israeli drones infiltrating Iran from Azerbaijan’s airspace,” IRNA reported.
Aliyev reportedly told Pezeshkian that “the Azerbaijani government will under no circumstances allow its airspace to be used against friendly and brotherly Iran.”
Since Israel’s June 13 attack on Iran, several Iranian analysts and experts have alleged that the Israeli government used Azerbaijani territory to carry out some of the airstrikes.
Ehsan Movahedian, a South Caucasus expert and international relations scholar at Tehran’s Allameh Tabataba’i University (ATU), told Armenpress Monday that he has evidence supporting claims that Israel utilized Azerbaijani soil for its operations.
He cited eyewitness reports of drones entering Iranian airspace from Azerbaijan.
“Many analysts and military insiders emphasize that Israel has used Azerbaijani territory to launch drones and attack targets in Iran. Iranian air defenses in Bandar Anzali, located on the Caspian Sea coast, also intercepted a number of small drones two nights ago. Eyewitnesses in Parsabad, Moghan reported seeing drones crossing the border from the Republic of Azerbaijan into Iran. The F-35 fighter that targeted Iranian state television also attempted to cross the border near Julfa,” Movahedian said in written comments to Armenpress.
According to Movahedian, Israel allegedly was using both mainland Azerbaijan and Nakhichevan as operational bases.
In a post on X, Movahedian shared images of what he described as a jettisoned fuel tank from an Israeli fighter jet found on the shore of the Caspian Sea in Ramsar, Iran.
“One might ask—Israel is located to the west of Iran, so what is this doing in the north? The answer lies in Baku, which has become the second branch of the Zionist regime in the region. Once the issue of the Israeli regime is addressed, the evil of Baku must be dealt with as well,” the expert commented
On June 14, during a phone conversation with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, his Azerbaijani counterpart Jeyhun Bayramov denied the allegations, stating that Baku would not allow its territory to be used for attacks on Iran.
In recent months, both Aliyev and Bayramov have hailed Azerbaijan’s close relations with Israel. Azerbaijan also deployed Israeli-made drones during its attack on Artsakh in 2020.
