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Author_Armen Israyelyan, Iranian Studies specialist 

Special Advisor to the Iranian Majlis Speaker in International Affairs Hossein Amir Abdollahian announced that the upcoming visit of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Azerbaijan will give rise to new provocations in the region.

The reports of the Azerbaijani media regarding the visit to be paid by Israeli Prime Minister to Azerbaijani on 13 December have caused a wave of protests in Iran. The news received a special attention among the representatives of Iran’s Supreme Leader and protests were organised in Turkic-speaking cities of Iran.

In contrast to the previous regimes, the government headed by Hassan Rouhani has taken a different approach towards Azerbaijan-Iran relations, which is to weaken the influence of Israel over Azerbaijan due to deepening its ties with Baku.   And one of the preconditions for Tehran to deepen the ties with Azerbaijan is the issues regarding the Shia community of Azerbaijan. However in contrast to Iran’s expectations Azerbaijan not only fails to tackle this issue but also brings forward new issues day by day.

During the interview conducted by Iranian Tasnim news agency Iran’s former Ambassador to Azerbaijan Mohsen Pak-Ayin announced that Iran’s did not expect Baku to agree on Netanyahu’s visit. To state that the Iranian side has taken for granted the assurances made by Azerbaijan would be a naïve approach. With the statement Iran simply hints that Azerbaijan has violated the agreements reached with Iran in relation to the outlook of Azerbaijan-Israel relations.

Turning to the statement made by Hossein Amir Abdollahian I want to note that for a long time he has assumed the post of Deputy Foreign Minister for Arab and African Affairs in Iran's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and is well aware of the regional developments, particularly of Israel’s policy.

Iran considers Israeli Prime Minister’s visit to Azerbaijan as an alert of the upcoming danger and taking into account Abdollahian’s statement stating that Netanyahu’s visit to Baku can give rise to new provocations it can be assumed that after the April 4-day war Iran has significant reasons to claim that the weapons acquired by Azerbaijani from Israel might be applied against the country in some circumstances. And as the representative of Iran’s Supreme Leader noted Azerbaijan is interesting for Israel not in terms of its economy but for the fact that it is Iran’s neighbouring state.