Azerbaijan Embassy in Iran Resumes Operations

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan announced that the country's embassy in Iran has resumed operations at a new address, and the ambassador and staff have returned to Tehran. According to a statement on Monday, July 25, the Azerbaijani Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that Iran 'will implement necessary measures for the protection of the embassy at the new building.' The foreign ministers of the two countries had agreed in March of last year, on the sidelines of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation meeting in Jeddah, to reopen the Azerbaijani embassy in Tehran. The Azerbaijani embassy was attacked by an armed individual on February 26, 2023, resulting in the death of one embassy staff member and injuries to two others. Following this attack, relations between the two countries deteriorated, and Azerbaijan evacuated its embassy staff from Tehran during the night, leaving only its consulate in Tabriz operational. Baku had set the 'identification and punishment of the perpetrators of the terrorist attack' on its embassy in Tehran as a condition for normalizing relations and reopening it. Iranian officials identified Yasin Hosseinzadeh as the assailant and described the motive as 'personal,' sentencing him to death. However, the spokesperson for the Azerbaijani Ministry of Foreign Affairs attributed the attack to 'anti-Azerbaijan campaigns that have been launched in Iranian media.' Relations between Tehran and Baku have been fraught with tensions in recent years. Iran is dissatisfied with Azerbaijan's relations with Israel, while Baku has condemned Tehran's support for Shia groups opposing Ilham Aliyev's government and has arrested several groups on charges of espionage for Iran's Ministry of Intelligence and attempts to establish a religious government in Azerbaijan.