Azerbaijan foils alleged Iranian plots targeting Jewish sites and oil pipeline
Azerbaijan’s State Security Service has announced it has thwarted multiple planned terrorist attacks and sabotage operations allegedly directed by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
Among the primary targets were prominent Jewish sites: the Ashkenazi synagogue in Baku, a modern synagogue in Dilara Aliyeva Street serving the Ashkenazi and European Jewish communities. The Israeli embassy in the capital was also a reported target. Also allegedly targeted was a leader of the ancient Mountain Jews community, a historic Jewish group with centuries-old roots in the Caucasus region.
Synagogue of Ashkenazi Jews in Baku (By Urek Meniashvili – CC BY-SA 3.0)
About 6,000 to 7,000 Jews live in Azerbaijan today, according to international Jewish organisations.
The schemes also reportedly included an attack on the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) oil pipeline, a strategic energy route carrying more than one million barrels of oil per day through Georgia and Turkey to global markets and supplying around a third of Israel’s oil imports.
Authorities stated that they had enlisted local operatives to conduct surveillance, procure weapons and explosives, and handle logistics. More than seven kilograms of C-4 explosive were allegedly smuggled into Azerbaijan by two Iranian citizens and an Azerbaijani national on IRGC orders.
International arrest warrants have been issued for four suspects, and several Azerbaijani nationals have been detained in connection with the case.
Iran has made no comment on the claims. The disclosure follows Baku’s accusation a day earlier that four Iranian drones entered its Nakhchivan exclave, injuring four people and damaging airport facilities. Tehran rejected the charge.
Citing heightened security risks, Azerbaijan has ordered the evacuation of its diplomatic personnel from Iran, including staff from the embassy in Tehran and consulate in Tabriz, as confirmed by Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov.
The episode underscores persistent strains between the neighbours, intensified by Azerbaijan’s strong alliances with Israel and Turkey amid the wider Middle East conflict.
It occurs against the backdrop of the ongoing war between Iran and a US-Israel coalition, now entering its second week.
The disrupted plots align with a series of alleged Iranian-linked attempts in recent months targeting Jewish figures and institutions in Azerbaijan.
With AAP
