Breaking Defense: "Israel" eyes Azerbaijan to confront Iran

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Breaking Defense
2 Sep 2022 23:28
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Breaking Defense magazine says that "Israel" is trying to get closer to Azerbaijan for new ways to confront Iran.

"Israel" eyeing Azerbaijan as a potential rival to Iran.

With all signs indicating the revival of a new nuclear deal, "Israel" is looking for strategic alliances to challenge Tehran's growing influence. Azerbaijan, Iran’s northern neighbor, appears to be the right fit to take part in "Israel's" dirty work.

Breaking Defense magazine stated that while "Tel Aviv" is still struggling to foil the revival of a new nuclear deal, there is little hope among the Israeli government that these last-minute attempts will be fruitful.

Mossad chief David Barnea is planning a visit to Washinton this week, and his message will not be a surprise after he bluntly called a potential new agreement a “strategic disaster” for "Israel" last week.

The Israeli press reported that Barnea received behind-the-scenes blowback for his phrasing, which may be an accurate representation of "Tel Aviv's" views, while others considered this was not in line with the exchange of messages from Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid and security minister Benny Gantz to Washington.

Nevertheless, "Israel" is preparing its options. Last week, there were reports that an Israeli air force F-35 flew into Iranian airspace, likely to simulate a strike on Iranian ships. But there are fewer direct options "Israel" is looking at, which is where Azerbaijan comes in, the magazine wrote.

Officially the Israeli security establishment is not commenting on how Azerbaijan may help "Israel" in a future conflict with Iran. “This is a very sensitive issue, and we better shut up,” a security source told Breaking Defense.

Breaking Defense mentioned that research from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute shows that "Israel" accounted for 27 percent of Azerbaijan’s major arms imports from 2011–2020.

It added that from 2016–2020, "Israel" accounted for 69 percent of Azerbaijan’s major arms imports — a number that represents 17 percent of Israeli arms exports for that same period, adding that among the systems currently used by Azerbaijan are loitering munitions that were visibly successful during the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war between Azerbaijan and Armenia.

It is worth noting that "the border between Iran and Azerbaijan is approximately 420 miles, and they have shared volatile relations over the years, and Israel now hopes to exploit the hidden tensions between Baku and Tehran for its own purposes," according to the magazine.

It also considered that "Azerbaijan can, in theory, expose its airspace to Israeli planes to enter Iranian territory if necessary."

In a recent interview published by the Teheran Times, Iran’s ambassador to the Republic of Azerbaijan raised some of Iran’s concerns.

“We suspect they [Israel] must have special intelligence, security, and maybe an intention to do an act of sabotage behind what they are doing, which is under our monitoring. We made the necessary complaints and gave the necessary warnings to the Azeris, and the officials of the Republic of Azerbaijan at different levels have assured us that nothing against the national interests of the Islamic Republic of Iran will happen from the territory of the Republic of Azerbaijan.”