Alwaght- Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev in unprecedented remarks made accusations against Iran. In largely unfounded comments, Aliyev said that Iran in association with Armenia smuggles drugs to Europe.
Aliyev claimed at a virtual meeting of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) that Iran and Armenia used Karabakh for 30 years to smuggle drugs to the European countries, reported Trend News of Azerbaijan.
Also, the Turkish daily Yeni Safak reported that the Azerbaijani president had made a baseless claim that the Republic of Azerbaijan has closed down the drug trafficking route from Iran to Armenia and then to Europe, which had previously passed through the Karabakh disputed region.
Iran’s Supreme National Security Council’s Secretary-General Ali Shamkhani responded to the accusations in a Twitter message, warning Aliyev that he should watch out the “costly traps laid for him by the devils.”
Saeed Khatibzadeh, the spokesman to the Iranian foreign ministry, immediately after the claims responded, dismissing the “surprising new claims of the president of Azerbaijan against the Islamic Republic of Iran” and calling them “false.”
"Such media accusations are solely in the interests of the Zionist regime to affect the fraternal relations between the two nations of Iran and Azerbaijan,” Khatibzadeh said referring to Iran’s adversary Israeli regime that over the past year has been trying to establish a presence in Azerbaijan and near the Iranian borders through close cooperation with Aliyev administration.
Aliyev’s reaction to Iranian flexing of muscles
Aliyev charges come less than two weeks after the end of the joint military exercise of the Iranian Armed Forces on the common border. Iran held a major military exercise to make it clear that it is zero-tolerant when it comes to change of borders in the region. Aliyev made the accusations to distract the regional public opinion from the large-scale Iranian military drills and their messages, said analysts. He failed to display any documents to his anti-Iranian accusations and kept them all words.
Seeking legitimacy for illegitimate actions
The Baku government is pushing to achieve some of its illegitimate goals in the region. Aliyev's illegitimate goal is to occupy part of Armenia's Syunik province as the only route for Armenians to Iran. This province, on the other hand, is also a transit route for Iran to access the borders of the European Union. Under the excuse of plans to connect Nakhichevan exclave to Azerbaijan’s mainland, Baku leaders are trying to create a corridor in Syunik’s south. Syunik separates Nakhichevan from Azerbaijan and now Aliyev is pushing to seize part of this Armenian province under the excuse of a corridor creation.
Aliyev asserts that the eyed corridor is part of the last year’s Russian-brokered deal with Armenia, while both Russia and Armenia categorically reject agreement on such a corridor and call the Azerbaijani president claims totally false.
On the other hand, the encroachment of the Republic of Azerbaijan on the Syunik is devoid of backing from other countries, and so far only Turkey and the Israel regime have supported Aliyev’s apparently illegitimate agenda. Ankara and Tel Aviv have sold arms to Baku and are implementing an agenda in Caucasus using Aliyev as a puppet.
At a time Baku lacks the necessary international support for its illegitimate territorial ambitions, it is now trying to find an excuse through drugs accusations for a possible intervention in Armenia, or even Iran. The accusations are meant to paint as legitimate any adverse moves.
Aliyev’s claims against Iran evoke Tel Aviv’s anti-Tehran accusations and odds are that such remarks by Azerbaijan are coordinated with the Israelis.
When it comes to anti-drugs measures, Iran shines
Despite the allegations made by Aliyev about Iran's drug transit, Tehran’s track record against international drug groups is clear to all. The significant number of Iranian police and security forces’ martyrs during operations against criminal groups and drug smugglers is expressive of the Iranian resolute fight against narcotics smuggling.
Additionally, Iran has extremely tough anti-drugs laws. Execution of drugs mafia heads and smugglers have always drawn negative reactions from Western organizations, though Tehran has proven it is not influenced by propagandistic agenda of the West. The anti-Iranian accusations come while Baku itself has not presented its record of anti-drugs fight for the world to see how serious the government of Aliyev is about battling drugs smuggling.
