Iran and Azerbaijan disagree on whether or not Friday’s assault on the Azeri embassy in Tehran constituted a ‘terrorist act’.
Tehran, Iran – Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi has informed his Azerbaijani counterpart that bilateral relations shouldn’t be affected after an assault on Baku’s embassy in Tehran that left one particular person useless.
The assault came about on Friday when a person rushed the embassy with an assault rifle and opened fireplace, killing the top of the safety employees and injuring two different guards.
Raisi and President Ilham Aliyev had a cellphone name on Saturday to debate the difficulty, throughout which the Iranian president expressed his condolences and stated an investigation is below approach.
“The governments of Iran and Azerbaijan won’t enable bilateral relations to be affected by the options of those that want unwell on the 2 nations,” Raisi was quoted as saying on his official web site.
The Iranian president’s web site additionally quoted Aliyev as saying “this was an sudden crime, however cooperation between the 2 nations on this should be in a approach that nobody will discover a possibility to disrupt pleasant bilateral relations utilizing such incidents as an excuse”.
However the readout of the decision by the Azerbaijani presidency made no point out of this, additional stressing a degree in regards to the assault that has divided Tehran and Baku.
Aliyev strongly condemned the “terrorist act” and pressured that had it not been for a second guard who tackled the gunman, “he would have focused different staff of the embassy and their members of the family residing within the house part of the embassy compound”.
CCTV footage launched by Iran confirmed the attacker hurriedly arriving on the scene together with his automobile and crashing into one other automobile parked in entrance of the embassy. After exiting the automobile with the rifle in hand, he passes an unarmed Iranian guard sitting in a sales space and enters the embassy taking pictures. Whereas taking pictures at two Azerbaijani guards, a 3rd tackles him, finally disarming the attacker.
Aliyev had instantly condemned the incident as a “terrorist act” whereas the Azerbaijani overseas ministry summoned Iran’s envoy to Baku and stated it can evacuate its diplomatic employees.
Prime officers in Tehran, in the meantime, repeatedly stated the assault didn’t represent a “terrorist” act because it was carried out with private motivations.
باحضور در بیمارستان از روند درمانی کارکنان سفارت جمهوری #آذربایجان مطلع شدم. همچنین در تماس تلفنی با همکارم @Bayramov_Jeyhun پیام تسلیت دکتر رئیسی را منتقل کردم. ج.ا.ایران آماده همکاری برای روشن شدن ابعاد حادثه است.
به دولت و ملت برادر و همسایه،این حادثه تلخ را تسلیت می گویم. pic.twitter.com/iquSTpUn4N— H.Amirabdollahian امیرعبداللهیان (@Amirabdolahian) January 27, 2023
[Translation: I was at the hospital and learned about the treatment process of the Azerbaijan Republic embassy staff. Also, in a phone call with my colleague (Azerbaijani foreign minister Jeyhun Baryamov), I conveyed Dr Raisi’s message of condolences. The Islamic Republic of Iran is ready to cooperate to clarify the dimensions of the incident. I offer my condolences to the government and nation of our brother and neighbour for this tragic incident.]
The attacker, a person recognized as Yasin Hosseinzadeh, was interviewed by Iran’s state tv and stated he stormed the embassy to “rescue” his spouse, whom he stated had disappeared after coming into the embassy near a yr earlier.
Iranian state tv additionally interviewed the person’s two younger kids, whom he had reportedly delivered to the embassy and had been within the automobile on the time of the assault, with the daughter saying her mom had travelled again to Baku – the place she was from – however her father believed she was on the embassy.
Many nations, together with Russia, Turkey and america condemned the assault and referred to as for a clear investigation.
The assault comes amid months of tensions between neighbours Iran and Azerbaijan, with the latter being a detailed ally of Turkey, Iran’s historic rival.
Iran, residence to tens of millions of ethnic Azeris, has lengthy accused Baku of fomenting separatist sentiments within the nation and has additionally taken difficulty with a few of its plan following the Nagorno-Karabakh warfare that may have an effect on its borders with Armenia.
Tehran has additionally repeatedly warned Baku in opposition to its increasing navy cooperation with Israel, saying Israel may probably use Azerbaijani territory as a bridgehead in opposition to Iran.
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