Azerbaijan’s embassy in Iran suspends its work

“We have completely suspended the embassy’s diplomatic activities,” he said, adding that five embassy employees are staying in Tehran to protect the building and the embassy’s property. “But they will not be engaged in diplomatic activities,” he explained.

According to the diplomat, Azerbaijan’s consulate general in Tabriz will continue to operate routinely.

A plane with the evacuated personnel of the Azerbaijani embassy in Tehran landed in Baku on Sunday evening. This decision followed the January 27 attack on the country’s embassy in Tehran, killing a security officer and wounding two more.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev described the incident as a terror attack and demanded a thorough investigation of the incident and “punishment of the terrorists.”

After interrogating the suspect, the Iranian foreign ministry as well as the judicial and security officials stressed that he had carried out the attack for very personal and family reasons.

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian has condemned the armed attack on Azerbaijan’s embassy in Tehran, saying the enemies should not be allowed to take advantage of the incident, which he said was not an act of terrorism.

In a phone conversation with his Azeri counterpart Ilham Aliyev on Saturday night, Iranian President Ebrahim Raeisi offered condolences over the incident and said that the governments of Iran and Azerbaijan do not allow their relations to be influenced by the insinuations of the ill-wishers of the two nations.

Aliyev, for his part, thanked the Iranian President for expressing sympathy with Azerbaijan, saying that it was an unexpected crime, but the cooperation between the two countries in this field should be so strong that no one can find an opportunity to disturb the friendly relations of the two countries under the pretext of such incidents.

MNA/PR