Iran’s war games at Azerbaijan borders is reported by state media as the Iranian army’s ground forces began holding maneuvers near the country’s border with Azerbaijan on Friday, despite criticism from its neighbor.
The exercises took place in open areas in northwestern Iran, said state television, which showed tanks, howitzers and helicopters firing at targets on the ground.
Iran’s war games due to presence of Zionist regimes and IS
“We respect good neighbourly relations but we do not tolerate the presence of Zionist regime (Israeli) elements and Islamic State terrorists in the region,” ground forces commander Brigadier General Kioumars Heydari told state TV.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev had criticized the Iran’s war games at Azerbaijan’s borders in an interview published on Monday.
“Every country can carry out any military drill on its own territory. It’s their sovereign right. But why now, and why on our border?” he told Turkish news agency Anadolu.
His comments were rebuffed by Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh.
“The drills carried out by our country in the northwest border areas… are a question of sovereignty,” Khatibzadeh said in a statement on Tuesday.
Read more: Iran and Azerbaijan on the verge of war?
Sharing borders
Iran and Azerbaijan share a border of around 700 kilometres (430 miles).
A major supplier of arms to Azerbaijan, Israel came under diplomatic fire from Armenia during last year’s conflict between the Caucasus neighbours.
Iran and Azerbaijan share a border of around 700 kilometres (430 miles).
Ethnic Azeris make up around 10 million of Iran’s 83 million people. As the two countries share borders, the presence of conflict of interests has raised the possibility of clash between the two countries. As a result, what gets hampered is regional peace and safety of innocent civilians who reside within the two borders.
As Iran is already battling with the resumption of Iran nuclear deal and its economy faces strangulating US sanctions, resorting to clash with neighbors may not be in its best interests.
Read more: The Iranian-Turkish Scandal Over Azerbaijan Is Just A Gigantic Misunderstanding