Why are Azerbaijan-Iran relations so bad? Five facts by Samuel Doveri Vesterbye

Managing Director of the European Neighborhood Council (US) Samuel Doveri Vesterbye has listed five facts to explain the recent high tension in Azerbaijani-Iranian relations.

He made the remarks on his Twitter page on January 29, Caliber.Az reports.

"Why are Azerbaijan-Iran relations so bad?

"Five simple facts (below) help explain why the Azeri-Iranian relationship has deteriorated and what’s really behind the recent attack against Azerbaijan’s embassy in Tehran.

"1. Sociologically: Azerbaijan and Iran are very different societies. Iran’s regime has a hardline, old and extreme interpretation of the Shia religion, while Azerbaijan has a more modern interpretation (gender parity, customs etc). It lay at the root of many differences.

"2. Historically: Iran (& Russia) colonised Azerbaijani and South Caucasian people, while today large Azeri communities continue to live inside of Iran, many of which have strong linguistic and cultural bonds to Azerbaijan and do not accept Tehran’s radical governance-style

"3. Geographically: Azerbaijan is the central player in the Middle Corridor, which circumvents Iran and instead connects East-West without Tehran. Iran traditionally tries to sabotage all attempts at a “Turan alliance” between Türkiye, Azerbaijan and other geo-Turkic nations.

"4. Armenia/Türkiye: traditionally Iran supports Armenia, due to Iran's fears of not being able to access the North-South corridor to Russia. Aggressive Iranian military exercises on the border (October 2022) led to a joint Türkiye-Azerbaijan response in November.

"5. Military/Israel: Since 2016, Israel has become the leading exporter to Azerbaijan of high-grade weapons systems and arms technology, while also upgrading 🇦🇿🇮🇱 intelligence and diplomatic/defence relations, since Azerbaijan is squeezed between aggressive neighbours Iran and Russia," the expert said.