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Orientalist, expert on Iran Armen Israelyan in his comments to Panorama.am discussed Iran’s reaction to the events in Azerbaijan and the recent developments in relations between the two countries.  He said:

“Iran’s Gafgaz.ir reported that at a press conference on December 1, MP of the Iranian Majlis Ebrahim Neku condemned the recent bloody clashes in Azerbaijan’s Nardaran settlement that left five faithful and two policemen dead and called for an immediate end to repressions against Azerbaijani Shias and detention of those guilty.

The Iranian MP said Iran must not remain indifferent to the great crisis in Azerbaijan.

The relative calm in Iranian-Azerbaijani relations has been disrupted again, which means that there are issues that the Iranian side considers very sensitive, no matter how much the sides try to show that bilateral relations are developing normally.

A few days ago when members of Iran’s Turkic-language population were staging protests over a humorous program, which was broadcast by Iran’s state television  and hurt the dignity of Atrpatakan residents, some deputies of Azerbaijani Milli Mejlis, as well as circles operating with direct or indirect support of the authorities, and websites under their control began meddling into Iran’s internal affairs by putting the terms “35 million Azerbaijanis of Iran” and “Southern Azerbaijan” into circulation.

After the bloody clashes in Nardaran largely populated by Caucasian Persians (Tats), Iran is launching a counterattack. In additions to the abovementioned Iranian MP, severe criticism was leveled at Azerbaijan by religious leaders of Eastern Atrpatakan and Ardabil Provinces such as Ayatollah Mojtahed Shabestari, Ayatollah Seyyid Hasan Ameli,  and deputy head of the National Security and Foreign Policy Committee of Iranian Mejlis Mansour Haqiqatpour.

It should be noted that the Iranian authorities take a mixed stance regarding Azerbaijan – in contrast to the presidency of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran’s current leaders refrain from adopting a tough position on the Azerbaijani issue, but religious figures have a different approach.

“Religious diplomacy’ is one of the key components of Iran’s foreign policy concerning the countries populated by Shias. Iran aims to weaken to the so-called ‘Saudi Wahhabism’ and ‘Turkish Sunnism’ in Azerbaijan.

The unprecedented visit of Iranian high-ranking cleric Ayatollah Noori Hamedani to Azerbaijan in September of this year was part of the “religious diplomacy”.

It is noteworthy that Iranian mass media compares the Nardaran events with the initial stage of the Islamic Revolution in Iran 35 years ago.  During that period, even a movement called ‘Khomeinichilar’ was formed in Nardaran.

The priorities of Iran’s foreign policy include strengthening of Shiism and the export of the Islamic Revolution. This policy of Iran has different manifestations in various Shia countries. As regards Azerbaijan, one of the Iranian policy’s goals is to carry out an Islamic revolution there, if not now, then in the future”.