Azerbaijan Arrests Group ‘Set Up By Islamic Republic’s Intelligence’
Azerbaijan says it has arrested a group of its citizens who had been “trained and funded by Iran's intelligence” to act against the interests of Azerbaijani national security.
Azerbaijan says it has arrested a group of its citizens who had been “trained and funded by Iran's intelligence” to act against the interests of Azerbaijani national security.
CNN described the shipment as the “first instance of Iran sending advanced precision guided missiles to Russia.” It suggested the weapons “could give the Kremlin a substantial boost on the battlefield.”
A senior US defense official said Monday that Washington had no information of Iran preparing to send the missiles. The Washington Post had reported Monday that Tehran planned to send missiles as well as additional military drones.
Robert Malley, the US Iran envoy, on Monday repeated US insistence that Tehran had sent UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles), saying “those drones have been used to target civilians and civilian infrastructure” in Ukraine while Iran “in the face of all of this evidence, keeps lying and denying that it’s happening.”
The Post suggested that a “relationship of convenience” between Russia and Iran could “redraw regional alliances for decades to come” and that Tehran’s alleged arms sales to Moscow marked “a seismic shift,” while “fears of a new world war have never been greater.”
The newspaper traced Iranian-Russian military cooperation back to fighting to save President Bashar al-Assad in Syria, when their coordinated intervention enabled Assad by 2016 to begin regaining territory from opposition forces, including both the Islamic State group (Daesh) and the US-backed mainly Sunni Free Syrian Army.
But the Post also noted Moscow’s vote December 2006 at the United Nations Security Council to impose sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program, and the two states’ current rivalry over selling oil to China. It attributed today’s closer Tehran-Moscow relationship to shared experience of US and European sanctions.
Intense use of UAVs
With Ukraine deploying drones supplied by the US and Turkey to defend against the Russian invasion, the use of UAVs has been more intense than in many recent conflicts, due in part to drones’ relatively low costs and ability to breach defense systems designed to stop missiles.
But Iran’s large scale export of missiles and drones is seen by the West as a dangerous turn of events because Tehran could use future opportunities to arm countries opposed to NATO or the United States
Russia Saturday suspended a UN-brokered arrangement allowing grain shipments through the black sea after a drone attack on at least one Russian warship near Sebastopol. Moscow said the strike had been planned with British involvement. The UN initiative facilitates the export of both grain and fertilizer, especially to Africa and the Middle East.
An additional $275-million US military package announced by the Pentagon Friday was smaller than earlier packages, with disquiet in the Republican Party shown in objections to plans to fund Ukraine with seized Russian assets.
The British defense ministry said Friday Moscow had adopted a “long-term, defensive posture,” while Vitali Klitschko, Kyiv mayor, said people would freeze to death if western counties did not supply blankets and generators. Associated Press reported Monday that Russia was hiring US-trained Afghan special forces to fight in Ukraine.
Nikol Pashinyan and Ebrahim Raisi held a joint press conference following their meeting, reiterating their goal to improve bilateral relations and sign documents for strengthening cooperation.
Raisi said he was sure the visit by the Armenian official will be a turning point in enhancement of bilateral relations, claiming that their trade exchanges have grown by 43 percent over the past few months.
In October, the Islamic Republic opened a consulate in Armenia's Syunik province, which includes Armenia’s narrow southern strip called Zangezur where it has a land border with Iran.
Azerbaijan, backed by Turkey, demands a transit corridor through Syunik province to have access to its Nakhichevan Autonomous region without Armenian checkpoints.
However, Yerevan objects to the concept saying that it is a breach of the ceasefire signed after the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war, that Azerbaijan won, taking back vast territories that Armenia had conquered in the Nagorno Karabakh conflict in the early 1990s.
Iran supports Yerevan in this dispute as it might lose its only joint border with its de facto ally Armenia and Caucasus. In mid-September, Iran warned that it would not tolerate any seizure of territory from Armenia by Azerbaijan.
Armenia accuses Azerbaijan of attacking its towns to avoid negotiations over the status of the mainly Armenian-populated enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh in Azerbaijan, an enclave which is inside Azerbaijan but populated mainly by ethnic Armenians.
Tehran in the past has also expressed alarm at alleged Israeli military presence in Azerbaijan.
Azerbaijan says it has arrested a group of its citizens who had been “trained and funded by Iran's intelligence” to act against the interests of Azerbaijani national security.
The country’s State Security Service announced on its website Tuesday that the armed group, called the Muslim Unity Movement, was secretly formed by Iran's special intelligence service through the inculcation of "radical-extremist religious ideas."
After recruitment, the members of the group were taken to Tehran through third countries, were given religious nicknames, and were transferred to Syria on military cargo planes with fake documents. In Syria, they underwent military training and received funding.
They were involved in military exercises where they were taught using different firearms and combat tactics as well psychological warfare such as “the use of blackmail.” Following their training, they brought books and videos which propagated "radical, religious-extremist attitudes against the ideas of modern development and a secular state."
Azerbaijan’s State Security Service said the leader of the group was arrested by a court order in 2018 for similar criminal acts. The statement named several of the members of the group, alleging that they are currently hiding in Iran. One of the suspects was arrested while "attempting a terrorist act" against Israeli billionaire Teddy Sagi in Cyprus.
Relations between Baku and Tehran have been tense in recent years, especially after in their territorial disputes. Tehran in the past has also expressed alarm at alleged Israeli military presence in Azerbaijan.
