This image shows damages of a school in Julfa following, what Azerbaijan's Foreign Ministry says was a drone attack carried out by Iran, on its exclave of Nakhchivan, Azerbaijan, Thursday, March 5. AP/PTI
Iran war spills over to Azerbaijan; Baku vows retaliation after drone attack
As per reports on Thursday, Azerbaijan has withdrawn diplomats from Iran after the attack
The war in the Middle East has spilled over to another country, with Azerbaijan accusing Iran of a drone attack on its territory and injuring four civilians.
Following the drone attack on Wednesday (March 5), Azerbaijan, which is on the northern border of Iran, has vowed to retaliate.
As per reports on Thursday, Azerbaijan has withdrawn diplomats from Iran after the attack.
What Azerbaijan said
Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement that Iranian drones attacked its exclave of Nakhchivan and damaged an airport building.
President Ilham Aliyev accused Iran of carrying out “a groundless act of terror and aggression,” and said his military has been told to prepare and implement retaliatory measures. The Caspian Sea nation halted truck traffic across the nearly 700-km border with Iran.
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Iran's general staff of the armed forces denied it had launched a drone towards Azerbaijan's territory. Iran has repeatedly denied targeting oil infrastructure and other civilian targets in the war, despite its drone and missile fire hitting those sites.
Iran has suggested the attack may have been an Israeli false‑flag operation, according to a BBC report.
The incident highlighted Azerbaijan's complicated relationship with neighbouring Iran, at a time when Baku also has developed military and economic ties with Israel.
Iran has grown increasingly concerned about the US and Israel potentially leveraging the Islamic Republic's various minority ethnic groups to destabilise the country as it comes under attack.
Four drones fired
Iran has a large Azeri population and Tehran has accused Baku of allowing Israeli intelligence to operate from there. Azerbaijan, in turn, has sought to give assurances that its territory won't be used for an attack on “neighbourly and friendly” Iran.
Azerbaijan's Foreign Ministry said an Iranian drone crashed near the airport in Nakhchivan, and another one hit near a school. The Defence Ministry said four drones were fired by Iran toward Nakhchivan, and while one was disabled by Azerbaijani forces, the others targeted civilian facilities — including a school where classes were underway.
It was unclear if it was deliberate or an accident.
The country's Prosecutor General's office said four people were injured.
Nakhchivan is separated from the rest of Azerbaijan by a swath of Armenia about 40 km wide. Nakhchivan accounts for about 6 per cent of the country's territory, bordering Azerbaijan's close ally Turkey and Iran.
‘We will not tolerate’
“We will not tolerate this groundless act of terror and aggression committed against Azerbaijan,” Aliyev said at a meeting of his country's Security Council in remarks carried by the Azertac news agency.
“Iranian officials must provide an explanation to the Azerbaijani side, an apology must be offered, and those who committed this terrorist act must be held criminally liable.” He said Azerbaijan's military has been instructed “to prepare and implement retaliatory measures.”
The Defence Ministry vowed that Iran's “attacks will not go unanswered,” adding it was preparing the “necessary response” to protect “the territorial integrity and sovereignty of our country, ensure the safety of civilians and civilian infrastructure.”
(With agency inputs)