Spy scandal between Azerbaijan and Iran turns epic

The spy scandal between Azerbaijan and Irann has been reactivated. It began in February, when the Islamic Republic accused Azerbaijan in support of the persons involved in the attacks on Iranian nuclear physicists.

Now, the Azeri side accuses Iran of preparing a series of attacks against the embassies and other U.S. and Israeli organizations. On March 14, the Ministry of National Security reportedly neutralized the entire espionage and sabotage network working for the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic immediately issued a rebuttal, and protested the actions of the Azerbaijani authorities. The Ambassador of Azerbaijan to the Islamic Republic Javanshir Akhundov was summoned to the Iranian Foreign Ministry and was told about Israeli machinations "to discredit Iran," resulting in "brotherly and friendly government of the Republic of Azerbaijan taking part in this game." Tehran has stressed that the incident virtually cancels the agreement signed at the trilateral meeting of foreign ministers of Azerbaijan, Iran and Turkey on March 7, as well as the arrangements entered into by the defense ministers of the two countries a week earlier.

In addition, according to the Azerbaijani secret police, Revolutionary Guards recruited one of the detainees, Niyazi Kerimov, back in 1999. He, allegedly for a large sum of money, has attracted dozens of other citizens of Azerbaijan into the criminal organization, whose purpose was to conduct sabotage and terrorist acts against American and Israeli targets in the territory of Azerbaijan.

On the background of the spy scandal and sharp exchange of diplomatic notes, there is an aggravation in another area. Tehran was outraged by the recent statements from Baku about renaming Azerbaijan into the "North Azerbaijan".

The Chairman of the Islamic Committee of Russia Heydar Jemal spoke about the reasons for another escalation between the two countries in an interview with "Pravda.Ru":

"More recently, The Defense Minister of Azerbaijan said that his country will never become a source of aggression against Iran. The events that followed once again prove that one can make any claims they want. Of course, Azerbaijan is unlikely to become a direct arena of possible strikes on Iran.

Indeed, the latter can deal with it very quickly, because Baku is very vulnerable. In part because, in case of a serious aggravation with Iran, Armenia that has allied relations with it may join in, and then the Azerbaijanis will have to forget about their dream to return the land seized by the Armenians.

Nevertheless, all these spy games with the renaming to "North Azerbaijan" suggest that the Azerbaijani political leadership is conducting an anti-Iranian affair. Of course, Baku is making it clear that there is "Southern Azerbaijan" and that it is ready to challenge Tehran's control over it.

Someone counts on using the Iranian Azerbaijanis against the Islamic republic. However, these attempts have had and will have little success. The Azeri factor in Iran became a state issue. The Iranian Azeris simply have no reasons for any serious discontent. The spiritual leader of the Islamic Republic is their representative. Moreover, half of the Iran's elite is Azerbaijanis who strongly support the leadership of their country.

Baku is playing a dangerous game. In total, it controls up to nine million Azerbaijanis, while in Iran they account for 25 million. That is, there are three southern, Tabriz Azerbaijani for one northern, Baku Azerbaijani. The former are much more well-organized, well-educated and tough. They also have thirty years of experience in management.

If someone harbors ideas about the "unification of Azerbaijan," they must be aware that this can happen only according to "the southern scenario". The South Azerbaijan in this case will crush the North Azerbaijan like a fly. To argue otherwise would be equivalent to arguing that FRG did not absorb the GDR but vice versa.

It is surprising that Baku does not understand that Tabriz will absorb the northern degenerative growth. Of course, all sorts of anti-Iranian actions of the political elite in Azerbaijan are due to the fact that it has a number of idiots in it. On the one hand, we must not forget that in many respects such things are intended for domestic consumption.

In addition, the Azeri leaders got involved in the games with Iran not by accident. Their purpose was merely to nourish information tensions, pushing oil prices up in the interests of all oil producers.

However, do not forget the fact that the Azerbaijani leadership is not alone in the full sense of the word, and that they agree their actions with Washington, trying to shake the situation in Iran, including in terms of the Azerbaijan issue."

Sergei Balmasov

Pravda.Ru

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