Ambassador for special provocations Whose interests does Mehdi Sobhani serve?

Once is an accident, twice is a coincidence, three times is a pattern. Iran’s Ambassador to Armenia, Mehdi Sobhani, has proven the truth of this saying by once again making a series of blatantly provocative, anti-Azerbaijani statements. It seems he has confused the role of Iran’s ambassador to Armenia with that of Armenia’s ambassador to Iran. There’s no other way to describe his remarks, which express concern not for the territorial integrity of Iran, but rather that of Armenia.

It is important to note that the territory of Armenia has never been occupied by Azerbaijan. Quite the opposite — Armenia kept 20% of Azerbaijan’s territory under occupation for more than a quarter of a century. The First Karabakh War, the 44-day war, and the one-day anti-terrorist operation in the Karabakh economic region — all of these took place on Azerbaijani soil. This is an obvious truth, one would think. Yet it is stubbornly ignored by Mehdi Sobhani. Moreover, he has now stated that the term “Western Azerbaijan” is unacceptable.

This is not merely rude, nor is it simply an attempt to adopt a patronising tone when evaluating the actions of another country. It is also an attempt to deny the right of a vast number of Azerbaijanis — who were forcibly expelled over the years from their historical homeland, the territory of present-day Armenia — to peacefully return to the land of their ancestors.

Let me also remind you of something else Mehdi Sobhani said in the summer of last year. In an interview with the Armenian service of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty — the same media outlet that has always been funded by the U.S. government. Yes, the very country whose air force ultimately launched strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities. In that interview, Mehdi Sobhani stated that “the rights of the Armenian residents of Karabakh must be respected.”

What we are witnessing is a textbook example of the notorious double standards. For Sobhani, the rights of ethnic Armenians who were illegally residing in the temporarily occupied territories of Azerbaijan — and who left the region voluntarily, in their own vehicles, even giving interviews to Azerbaijani TV channels — seem to matter more than the rights of ethnic Azerbaijanis who had been lawfully living on the territory of present-day Armenia but were forcibly expelled from there.

However, this was not the only provocation from Iran’s ambassador to Armenia. Just recently, he declared that “Tehran has information that during the conflict between Israel and Iran, a small number of Israeli drones entered Iranian territory from neighbouring countries, particularly from Azerbaijan.”

The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry has already responded to Mehdi Sobhani. The country’s foreign policy institution described his remarks as baseless and provocative.

“Such claims are baseless and lack any credible evidence. We expect Iran to prevent such steps, which are inappropriate to the spirit of our relations, as well as to take necessary steps regarding the opinions voiced by the Ambassador, who regularly demonstrates his pro-Armenian position, rather than represent his country,” the Azerbaijani MFA said in its statement.

In this context, it is worth emphasising that on June 27, President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev accepted the credentials of the newly appointed Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Islamic Republic of Iran to Azerbaijan, Mojtaba Demirchilou.

The head of state expressed satisfaction with the phone conversation held the day before with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, as well as with the discussions conducted during Pezeshkian’s recent visit to Azerbaijan, noting that the visit had opened a new chapter in the overall development of bilateral relations between the two countries.

Furthermore, President Aliyev stressed that amid tensions between Iran and Israel, certain circles and media representatives have been spreading information based on rumours and falsehoods in an attempt to damage Azerbaijan-Iran relations. He stated that all such claims are complete nonsense. And it should be recalled — as repeatedly confirmed both inside and outside Azerbaijan — that the President’s words have always matched his actions.

From the very beginning of the recent escalation of tensions between Israel and Iran, official Baku has taken a fundamentally honest position. In particular, on June 14, Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov clearly and unequivocally expressed the official stance of our country in a conversation with his Iranian counterpart Seyyed Abbas Araghchi: “Azerbaijan has not provided and will not provide its airspace or territory to any country for carrying out strikes against a third country, including neighbouring and friendly Iran,” Bayramov stated at that time.

But that was not all. “Azerbaijan is concerned about the expansion of tensions in the Middle East, including military operations against neighbouring Iran,” the Azerbaijani Foreign Minister stated at the 51st session of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Istanbul. He emphasised that Baku “calls for the restoration of the diplomatic process based on the norms and principles of international law.”

By the way, according to the human rights group Hengaw, more than 530 people were detained across Iran from June 13 to 23, allegedly linked to Israeli intelligence, Mossad. Meanwhile, Time reports over 700 arrests in a large-scale operation on suspicion of collaboration with Israel. As we can see, there is significant evidence that many within Iran were cooperating with Israeli intelligence agencies.

Let me also remind you that AFP and Al Jazeera reported that the Israeli military used small drones and guided missiles for the first time, launching them from deep within Iranian territory. Naturally, Mehdi Sobhani chose not to mention this. Instead, he once again preferred to make provocative, anti-Azerbaijani statements — statements made with such frequency that one might conclude he represents forces uninterested in normalising relations between Baku and Tehran.