Azerbaijan has declared four Iranian embassy employees persona non grata, citing their activities as “incompatible with diplomatic status.” This comes after Azerbaijan arrested six men it claims were recruited by Iranian secret services to destabilize the country.
The group allegedly planned to establish a Sharia state in Azerbaijan through armed unrest and violent overthrow of the country’s constitutional order. Azerbaijan blames Iran for a January 2022 terrorist attack on its embassy in Iran, which killed the diplomatic mission’s head of security and wounded two others. In turn, Iran has accused Azerbaijan of fueling separatist sentiments among its ethnic Azeri minority.
Azerbaijan has also criticized Iran for allegedly backing Armenia in the long-standing conflict over Azerbaijan’s breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region. The tension between the two neighbors has escalated since Azerbaijan opened an embassy in Iran’s arch-foe Israel last week, prompting Iranian lawmakers to issue a statement strongly criticizing Azerbaijan and threatening with negative political consequences.
