He said that Israel allegedly “contributes to the militarisation of the South Caucasus and the growth of tension in the relations of the region’s certain countries with Iran”.
Yes, given the state of affairs between Iran and Israel, the critical statements by Iranian diplomats against the Jewish state are not surprising. But it is necessary, as they call it, to know the measure and not to cross red lines. To begin with, Iran itself is a supplier of all kinds of weapons to various countries around the world. And on April 14, Iran launched missile strikes against Israel. Iran launched several hundred drones and missiles towards Israel. The attack was carried out in several waves from the territories of Iran, Lebanon and Iraq. We can say that peaceful Israeli cities were hit with Iranian weapons from around the world.
How did official Baku react to what happened? “Azerbaijan is deeply concerned about the growing tension between Iran and Israel,” the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry said in a statement on social network X. “We call on all sides to show restraint and avoid dangerous escalation, which could further destabilise the situation in the Middle East. This was an honest, balanced position of the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry. But what was voiced by the Iranian Ambassador to Yerevan is quite different. Ambassador Sobhani simply lied.
To begin with, there is no “Nagorno-Karabakh” on the territory of Azerbaijan, but rather the Karabakh region. By the way, the Iranian Ambassador to Azerbaijan Seyyed Abbas Mousavi could have reminded him of this. He, the Iranian ambassador in Baku, should have made a statement refuting Sobhani’s words about Azerbaijan. In fact, this ambassador sided with Armenia. He repeated the traditional narratives of Armenian political and military experts. At the same time, for some reason Ambassador Sobhani kept silent when the French Defence Minister arrived in Yerevan on a visit. He did not react when it was openly stated that France was arming Armenia. He also did so when US Ambassador to Armenia Kristina Kvien gave an interview in which she said that the US would appoint an adviser to assist the Armenian Ministry of Defense. It would seem that official Tehran has traditionally opposed the strengthening of the US and EU positions in the South Caucasus region. But, as we can see, in reality, the Iranian Ambassador to Armenia preferred to keep silent when it comes to the military assistance of these countries to Armenia. It turns out that he agrees that Azerbaijani servicemen should be killed with French weapons and under the supervision of French and American military advisers?! The question is not rhetorical at all. All the more so because we have much to remind the Iranian Ambassador in Yerevan. I will start by reminding that on September 7, 2020, i.e. even before the beginning of the 44-day war, President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev accepted the credentials of the Ambassador Extraordinary of the Islamic Republic of Iran to our country Seyyed Abbas Mousavi. Yes, the very one who could well have made a statement that would have mitigated the negative effect of Ambassador Sobhani’s provocative speeches.
“Armenia destroyed our historical and religious monuments and desecrated religious monuments. The Armenians destroyed our mosques in the occupied territories, they even keep livestock in some mosques. There are many videos and photographic documents, evidence reflecting these dirty deeds. They can be found on the Internet. This is a crime committed not only against us, but also against the entire Muslim world,” the head of our state told the Iranian diplomat then.
That is, the Iranian ambassador to Azerbaijan is aware of all the crimes of the Armenian side. If he suddenly forgot about their scale, then we remind you that after Azerbaijan’s historic victory in the 44-day war, in February 2021, in an interview with Azerbaijan Television (AZTV), Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev stated that pro-Armenian, anti-Azerbaijani, Islamophobic circles trying to cast a shadow on our just struggle should know that Armenia, having occupied and seized our lands, destroyed our entire infrastructure.
“I visited the Aghdam, Fuzuli, Jabrayil, Gubadli, Zangilan regions, and the city of Shusha. The city of Agdam is completely destroyed. There is not a single surviving building. All that remained was a dilapidated mosque, which the Armenians desecrated. There is not a single building in Fizuli, only a three-four-story military unit. At the entrance to Jebrail there is a military unit, but there is no town. There are several houses left in Gubadly and Zangilan, and in a dilapidated state. They used these houses as a police station, and therefore as a military base. In the villages along the road there is not a single surviving building. All buildings in the villages were destroyed and looted. This picture is being shown today and should be shown to the whole world. For many years, the Armenian leadership and its patrons hid this. As if there was nothing like that. This was also hidden by representatives of international organizations in these regions. This robbery, vandalism, hostility should attract the attention of the whole world,” President Aliyev said.
All this, alas, took place with the tacit consent of official Tehran. Iran did not recognise the genocide in Khojaly, did not condemn the barbaric destruction of Azerbaijani, Islamic heritage on our lands by Armenian occupants. Yes, during the years of occupation of our lands Armenia destroyed 65 out of 67 mosques, and the remaining 2 mosques were seriously damaged and used to keep pigs and cows. This is an insult to the entire Muslim world. But the Iranian ambassador in Yerevan says nothing to this effect.
But we all remember. Iran armed Armenia during the First Karabakh War. Moreover, Iran did not close its borders with Armenia in solidarity with Azerbaijan. That is exactly what brotherly Turkey did. But the IRI did the opposite, it left the so-called “road of life” for Armenia, which occupied the lands of Azerbaijan and made a million Azerbaijanis refugees and IDPs. And this is not all that we can remind the Iranian Ambassador to Armenia. But even the above is enough to make it obvious how inappropriate, false and provocative his speeches are.
Caliber.Az
