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IRAN RELEASES AZERI NATIONALS ACCUSED OF SPYING
Global Insight
September 5, 2012
BYLINE: Jamie Ingram
In a statement released yesterday (4 September), Iranian Foreign
Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast announced that two Azeri citizens
accused of espionage had been released. The two were arrested in
July and accused of having links with Azerbaijan's secret service
and seeking to recruit Iranian nationals. The announcement came as
Iran's Vice President in charge of Cultural Heritage and Tourism,
Hassan Mousavi, arrived in the Azerbaijani capital Baku, where he
will hold talks with a number of dignitaries and deliver a message
from President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to his counterpart President Ilham
Aliyev. The visit comes swiftly after Deputy Foreign Minister for
Asian and Pacific Affairs Seyed Araqchi held talks in Baku last month
with Azerbaijani officials on enhancing bilateral ties. Despite their
shared espousal of Shia Islam, relations between the two countries have
traditionally been strained. Azerbaijan is increasingly vocal about
its territorial claims to the homonymous region of Northern Iran,
while Iran's links with neighbouring Armenia remain a barrier to
the normalisation of bilateral relations (seeArmenia - Azerbaijan -
Iran: 12 July 2012:) given the ongoing Armenian-Azeri dispute over
the status of the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region.
Furthermore, Azerbaijan has repeatedly detained alleged Iranian spy
rings, and in March arrested 22 citizens on suspicion of having been
recruited by Iran. Perhaps most worryingly for Iran, Azerbaijan retains
close relations with Israel and in March rumours escalated that Israel
had been granted the use of air bases in the country for a potential
attack on Iran; rumours that were swiftly rejected by Azerbaijan
(seeAzerbaijan - Iran - Israel: 29 March 2012: Iran:).
Significance:Iran is making a concerted effort to court regional
states in a bid to enhance trade relations and evade punitive western
sanctions (seeIran: 22 August 2012:).Senior Iranian officials have
confessed that the sanctions are damaging Iran's economy, with
Ahmadinejad admitting in an interview on state television yesterday
that Tehran is encountering difficulties in selling its oil. However,
it is doubtful that these developments will presage a significant
warming of bilateral relations, given Baku's territorial claims over
parts of Northern Iran and Tehran's close relations with Armenia.
Moreover, Azerbaijan's links with Israel make it even more unlikely
that the government would risk attracting the United States' ire by
aiding Iran.
Global Insight
September 5, 2012
BYLINE: Jamie Ingram
In a statement released yesterday (4 September), Iranian Foreign
Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast announced that two Azeri citizens
accused of espionage had been released. The two were arrested in
July and accused of having links with Azerbaijan's secret service
and seeking to recruit Iranian nationals. The announcement came as
Iran's Vice President in charge of Cultural Heritage and Tourism,
Hassan Mousavi, arrived in the Azerbaijani capital Baku, where he
will hold talks with a number of dignitaries and deliver a message
from President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to his counterpart President Ilham
Aliyev. The visit comes swiftly after Deputy Foreign Minister for
Asian and Pacific Affairs Seyed Araqchi held talks in Baku last month
with Azerbaijani officials on enhancing bilateral ties. Despite their
shared espousal of Shia Islam, relations between the two countries have
traditionally been strained. Azerbaijan is increasingly vocal about
its territorial claims to the homonymous region of Northern Iran,
while Iran's links with neighbouring Armenia remain a barrier to
the normalisation of bilateral relations (seeArmenia - Azerbaijan -
Iran: 12 July 2012:) given the ongoing Armenian-Azeri dispute over
the status of the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region.
Furthermore, Azerbaijan has repeatedly detained alleged Iranian spy
rings, and in March arrested 22 citizens on suspicion of having been
recruited by Iran. Perhaps most worryingly for Iran, Azerbaijan retains
close relations with Israel and in March rumours escalated that Israel
had been granted the use of air bases in the country for a potential
attack on Iran; rumours that were swiftly rejected by Azerbaijan
(seeAzerbaijan - Iran - Israel: 29 March 2012: Iran:).
Significance:Iran is making a concerted effort to court regional
states in a bid to enhance trade relations and evade punitive western
sanctions (seeIran: 22 August 2012:).Senior Iranian officials have
confessed that the sanctions are damaging Iran's economy, with
Ahmadinejad admitting in an interview on state television yesterday
that Tehran is encountering difficulties in selling its oil. However,
it is doubtful that these developments will presage a significant
warming of bilateral relations, given Baku's territorial claims over
parts of Northern Iran and Tehran's close relations with Armenia.
Moreover, Azerbaijan's links with Israel make it even more unlikely
that the government would risk attracting the United States' ire by
aiding Iran.