Has Israel Become a Liability for Azerbaijan?

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Azerbaijan is coming to realize that its deep military ties with Israel are exposing it to Iranian ire.

Last week, the foreign ministers of Azerbaijan and Iran, Jeyhun Bayramov and Abbas Araghchi, respectively, had another telephone call. Once again, they discussed the regional situation, and once again, the conversation revealed just how fragile the détente between Baku and Tehran truly is.

Araghchi raised the issue of security and environmental risks following the Israeli strike on the Iranian Caspian city of Bandar Anzali. He emphasized the need for Azerbaijan (and other Caspian states) to adopt a “firm stance” and condemn the strikes. But Bayramov was not there simply to listen. He delivered Baku’s expectation regarding the completion of the investigation into the drone attack on the airport in Nakhchivan from Iranian territory weeks earlier.

The exchange captures the essence of the moment. Both sides are trying to prevent escalation, but the underlying tensions remain acute. The fragile balance is strained by Azerbaijan’s deep ties to the United States and Israel. Neither Baku nor Tehran wants a full rupture. But the longer the US-Israeli campaign against Iran continues, the harder that balance becomes to sustain.

For the better part of the past decades, the alignment between Israel and Azerbaijan has been working to the benefit of both sides. Israel provided Azerbaijan with billions of dollars worth of cutting-edge military technology that proved decisive in the 2020 and 2023 Nagorno-Karabakh wars against Armenia.

In return, Azerbaijan offered Israel a strategic intelligence foothold on Iran’s northern border, and a reliable energy partner—around 40 percent of Israeli........

© The National Interest