In a significant regional escalation, Iranian drones have targeted the passenger terminal of an airport in Azerbaijan’s Nakhchivan region near the Iranian border. The Azerbaijani foreign ministry confirmed the attack and announced plans for “retaliatory measures,” marking the first instance of the Israeli-US conflict with Iran spilling over into its northern neighbor.
Azerbaijani media reported additional drone incidents across various locations, though specific damage assessments remain unclear. Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi swiftly denied targeting neighboring countries, calling for a thorough investigation into the incident. He notably stated that only countries hosting military bases of Iran’s enemies would be targeted—a veiled reference to Azerbaijan’s close military relationship with Israel.
In a contradictory statement, Iran’s General Staff attributed responsibility to Israel, claiming the attack was designed to falsely implicate Tehran. This development occurs amid complex demographic realities: Iran itself hosts a larger ethnic Azerbaijani population than Azerbaijan, with its West Azerbaijan province sharing a direct border.
The attack follows intensified strikes by Israel and the US against Iranian targets beginning last Saturday, which have triggered mass crossings from Iran into Azerbaijan through the Astara border. Azerbaijan maintains particularly strong military ties with Israel, which supplied combat drones and hardware used in the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
Meanwhile, Iran has responded to Western attacks by targeting US bases across multiple regional states including the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Oman, and Qatar. An anonymous Iranian foreign ministry official told Middle East Eye that Israel was behind several drone strikes against Saudi Arabia and at least one attack on Oman, though specific attribution remains contested.
This incident exacerbates existing tensions between Baku and Tehran, compounded by calls from some Azerbaijani nationalists for unification with Iran’s Western Azerbaijan province—ambitions the government has officially denied while maintaining generally cordial relations.