Iran professes friendship to Azerbaijan while arming Armenia Clerical regime instigates war

“Iran will support Azerbaijan if it comes under an attack. Azerbaijan is the light of our eyes,” Ali Akbar Velayati, an adviser to the Supreme Leader of Iran, said last month when relations between the two countries once again deteriorated as a result of provocations of the clerical regime. The Azerbaijani people heard the remarks voiced by the former Iranian foreign minister but they did not even have time to believe in their sincerity as our southern neighbor added fuel to long-standing distrust on our part.

So, today Azerbaijani mass media reported and Caliber.Az sources confirmed that at the end of October the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) which is directly subordinate to the Supreme Leader of Iran made a regal gesture towards Armenia, presenting 500 units of anti-tank missile system Dehlavieh and 100 units of anti-tank missile system Almaz. Taking into account the fact that "Almaz" entered the service of the IRGC Ground Forces only in 2021 and not all units of the Iranian army have received it yet, it is indeed a "royal" present for Armenia. Of course, Iran is well aware of the purpose for which Armenia is being rearmed and against whom these weapons can be used. What did Velayati say? "Iran does not plan to attack people of the same language, religion, beliefs, tradition, and history". But it is ready to arm to the teeth those who do not hide their intentions to kill people of the same language, faith, and tradition.

However, we have long been under no illusions about the clerical regime's true attitude towards Azerbaijan. Let us remember at least under what circumstances Shusha was occupied in May 1992. There is much more. Tehran has shown unconcealed solidarity with the policies of Yerevan during all the years of occupation of the Karabakh region of Azerbaijan by Armenia despite the fact that Armenians destroyed all the mosques and expelled 750 thousand of Azerbaijanis from Karabakh. 750 thousand of the same people, according to Velayati, "of the same language, religion, belief, tradition, and history". Being itself a pariah in world politics, the mullah regime rolled up its sleeves and set about rescuing another pariah on a regional scale - Armenia. It was only thanks to Iran's massive help in supplying oil, gas, food, and machinery that Armenia, under a transportation blockade, was able to survive the 1990s and 2000s. This Iranian assistance, of course, was one of the main factors in the fact that the occupation of Azerbaijani territories lasted 28 years.

The occupation of Karabakh by Armenians and the protracted conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia worked in IRI leadership's favour. After all, this situation, among other things, allowed the regime to earn good money by using the occupied Azerbaijani territories as a route for smuggling drugs and weapons (after the victory Baku successfully closed this channel). Everything changed with the start of the 44-day war, which came as a surprise to Iran. During the war, the Azerbaijani side had ample evidence of cooperation between the Iranian and Armenian armies. In particular, the Iranians passed the geolocation of positions of Azerbaijani units to the Armenians, especially since some of them were visually tracked from the Iranian territory. Iran also provided Armenia with electronic warfare equipment against Azerbaijani UAVs. And finally, the peak of Iranian perfidy - the invasion of the sovereign territory of Azerbaijan, as already reported by Caliber.Az. To recall, on October 17, 2020, units of the Armed Forces of Azerbaijan liberated the Khudaferin settlement and hoisted the flag of our country there. Without slowing down the pace of the counterattack, the advance units of the Armed Forces of Azerbaijan moved along the river Araz in the direction of the dam of Khudaferin Power Plant, in order to come to the approaches to Zangilan in the shortest and safest way. But going around the dam and moving towards Zangilan the advanced detachments of Azerbaijani Armed Forces ran into subunits of the Iranian army which blatantly violated the international law, inviolability of borders, and territorial integrity of Azerbaijan and intruded on the sovereign territory of our country. After 24 hours of tense negotiations, Iran withdrew its troops from Azerbaijani territory. But Tehran won 24 hours for Armenia, which helped the Armenian occupation army to regroup, and pull up reserves, to strengthen the defence. Which, in the end, led to additional losses in the Azerbaijani Army...

Even after the war, the mullahs' regime never stopped supporting Armenia and pursuing anti-Azerbaijani policies, accompanying them with fierce rhetoric and saber-rattling near our borders. You don't have to be an analyst not to understand that, for example, Iran's recent military exercises were clearly anti-Azerbaijani in nature. By the way, in the course of the exercises, the Iranian military practiced crossing the Araz and military attacks on our territory. For two years the Iranians have been sending signals to make Baku give up its independent foreign policy, and its plans to restore regional transportation arteries, repeating like a mantra about certain "red lines".

Armenia continues to be used by Tehran as a springboard for its anti-Azerbaijani actions. And today's information about the supply of anti-tank guided missiles is just of this series. It's clear that this is another hostile step by Tehran against Azerbaijan. The delivery of hundreds of weapons by a state that has the word "Islamic" in its name to Armenia, which will be used against Azerbaijan, shows the true nature of the Iranian regime. Let those in Azerbaijan who support Iran once again see the true face of their idols.