Azerbaijan, Iran and Israel: Uncertain relations
On June 13, 2025, at about 3:30 a.m. Tehran local time, Israel launched a surprise attack on the Shiite Islamic Republic of Iran, targeting key military and nuclear facilities, killing military, political and civilian leaders. At the time, Israeli drones were spotted flying from neighboring Azerbaijan toward Iranian territory.
Neighboring Christian Armenia immediately denounced the attack and called for an end to the aggression. Meanwhile, late on Friday, June 13, Shiite Azerbaijan issued a statement calling on both sides to resort to reason without condemning the Israeli aggression against Iran.
Later, certain media and social media accounts circulated claims suggesting that Azerbaijan recruited ethnic Azerbaijanis as agents and spies, and deployed them into Iran on behalf of Israel. Meanwhile, Azerbaijani residents in the Nakhichevan enclave were stunned by the sight of Israeli rockets passing over the skies of the Julfa district.
The human cost of this conflict resonates particularly strongly among Azerbaijan’s population, given the shared cultural and ethnic ties across the border. Among the targets struck were multiple areas in Iran’s East Azerbaijan province, including Bostan Abad, Maragheh and Tabriz, the provincial capital where the majority of the population consists of ethnic Azerbaijanis.
It is worth noting that Azerbaijan is Israel’s most important partner and ally among Muslim-majority countries, with the two countries maintaining strong cooperation in defense and intelligence. Israel has established a sophisticated spy center in Azerbaijan to gather information on Iran and Armenia.
It is also worth mentioning that during the Second Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) war, which began on September 27, 2020, and in the military offensive against Artsakh on September 19, 2023, Azerbaijan was able to achieve victory thanks to the assistance of Israeli forces.
By accepting Israel’s assistance in its aggression against Artsakh, Azerbaijan will remain under Israeli hegemony forever. It will be marked by eternal shame and stigma for providing assistance to Israel in its aggression against its Muslim-Shiite neighbor, Iran.
Dr. Gaby Kevorkian
Armenian Quarter, Jerusalem
Guest Contributor
It is worth noting, that religion does not play a role in the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict. It only happens, that both ethnic groups have different religions. It is a purely ethnic conflict that goes back to the 19th century. Religion is occasionally referenced or abused to garner sympathy.
Likewise, that Iran and Azerbaijan are predominantly Shiite Muslim, is also meaningless, also because Azerbaijan is one of the most irreligious countries in the world. The enmity between Azerbaijan and Iran is ideological, precisely because the former is a strictly secular state and the latter a theocracy. The other major reason for this enmity, is also because Iran has a very large Azeri minority, who make up 20% of its population and who are twice the population of Azerbaijan. Iran fears that Azerbaijan might try to instigate the Iranian Azeris to rise up.
However, the Iranian Azeris are well integrated, many of its past and present rulers are ethnically Azeri, Azerbaijani nationalism and seperatism is a tiny fringe minority among them, and importantly, the vast majority of Iranian Azeris harbor no animosity towards Armenians. After the Russian Empire conquered what is now the Republic of Azerbaijan in the first decade of the 19th century, Azeris on both side of the Araks river were separated, and both societies evolved differently. Unlike Armenians, Azeris on both sides are alien to each other and there are practically no familiy links or other relations with each other. Unlike the Azeris of Azerbaijan, Iranian Azeris are also more religious.
The Azerbaijani-Israeli alliance stems simply due to the animosity of both countries towards Iran, with converging national interests, vis-a-vis the Armenian-Iranian rapprochement, which however has not evolved into an alliance.
It was obvious that Azerbaijan was a conduit after all many of Israeli drones don’t have the range to fly between Israel and Iran. Iraqi Kurdistan is also understood to be an infiltration point for Israel against Iran. Hopefully Iran will have less of a balancing policy towards Azerbaijan as a result of their collusion. It’s also worth noting that Iran whilst having a Persian majority demographic has a strong sense of civic nationalism and thus many of Azeri Iranians identify with Iran rather than Azerbaijan likewise Armenians and various other races are expected to feel Iranian. General Solimani was a Lur for example.