Iran dismisses Azerbaijan’s claims of drug route to Europe
Iranian and Azerbaijani leaders also had a recent row over an Iranian military drill near the border.
Iran and Azerbaijan are in a war of words again, this time over drug smuggling.
On Friday, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev claimed that the country had closed a drug route from Iran to Armenia and onto Europe. The purported route supposedly passed through southwest Azerbaijan as well, according to Azerbaijani media outlets.
Iranian officials reacted angrily to the claim. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Saeed Khatibzadeh called the assertion “baseless” and said it was “in the interests of the Zionist regime,” referring to Israel. The diplomat also stressed Iran’s role in the drug war, the official Islamic Republic News Agency reported.
Iran and Azerbaijan have longstanding relations. Both countries are predominantly Shiite Muslim and many Iranians have Azerbaijani heritage, including the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khameini.
