A gunman shot dead the security chief of the Azerbaijani embassy in Iran on Friday. Two other security forces were reportedly injured in the attack. “Personal reasons” are the triggers for the crime.
The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry initially reported on the attack. According to Tehran police chief Hossein Rahimi, the gunman was arrested – he was from Iran and was married to an Azerbaijani woman.
“He claims that his wife has been detained at the embassy for nine months,” Rahimi added. The police chief told Tasnim news agency that the attacker “entered the embassy with his two young children”. Rahimi said an Azerbaijani national was killed and that it was a member of the embassy.
“Terrorist attack”
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev tweeted that he “strongly condemned the terrorist attack”. The State Department said “all responsibility for this attack rests with Iran”. A recent anti-Azerbaijani campaign in Iranian media “encouraged” the attack. The spokesman for the ministry said that the embassy staff in Tehran would be evacuated.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani said Tehran strongly condemned “the armed attack (…) which unfortunately resulted in the death of one person”. According to preliminary investigation, it is about personal motives.
separatist moods
Iran is home to millions of Azeris, an ethnic group mainly represented in Azerbaijan, Russia and Iran. Tehran has long accused Baku of fueling separatist sentiment. Relations between the two countries have historically been poor, as Azerbaijan is a close ally of Iran’s historical rival, Turkey.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Friday that Moscow was “shocked” by the attack. “We extend our condolences and support to our Azerbaijani colleagues,” she wrote on Telegram.
Source: Krone
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