Assailant at Azerbaijani embassy in Iran sentenced to death

A court in Iran has sentenced the country's citizen Yasin Huseynzadeh to death for committing a terrorist attack at the Azerbaijani embassy in Tehran.

The news came from Azerbaijan State Television (AzTV) on October 1, reports Caliber.Az.

On January 27, Huseynzadeh carried out an armed attack on the Azerbaijan embassy in Tehran, killing an Azerbaijani security officer and injuring two others.

The gunman, identified as Yasin Hosseinzadeh, was armed with a Kalashnikov rifle when he broke into the embassy building and killed the Azerbaijani officer. He was eventually stopped by the embassy’s security staff after a violent scuffle.

Iran said the attack stemmed from personal reasons, but Baku sees it as an act of terrorism.

Diplomatic activities at the Azerbaijani embassy in Tehran were completely suspended following the incident. However, a few employees remained in the Iranian capital to safeguard the embassy building and properties.

On May 5, Iran declared four Azerbaijani diplomats persona non-grata, including two staff members of the embassy in Tehran and two employees of the consulate in Tabriz. According to Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry’s Spokesperson Aykhan Hajizada, the Iranian decision was a tit-for-tat response to the analogical measure taken by Baku in April this year.

Azerbaijani authorities declared on April 6 four employees of the embassy of the Islamic Republic to Baku Mirmahdi Mirsalampur Sherif, Gurbanali Purmerjan Varjovi, Hadi Moghadam, and Asker Bahari Khosh Menzer persona non grata and gave them 48 hours to leave.

At the time, Baku explained the decision noting activities that were “incompatible with diplomatic status and contradicted the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations”.