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Tehran Expels 4 Azerbaijan Diplomats in Tit-for-Tat Move

The Azerbaijani flag on the facade of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs building in Baku (Twitter)
The Azerbaijani flag on the facade of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs building in Baku (Twitter)
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Tehran Expels 4 Azerbaijan Diplomats in Tit-for-Tat Move

The Azerbaijani flag on the facade of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs building in Baku (Twitter)
The Azerbaijani flag on the facade of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs building in Baku (Twitter)

Iran has expelled four Azerbaijani diplomats “in response” to Baku’s expulsion of Iranian embassy staff in April, Iranian news agencies reported on Friday.
“Four diplomats from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan, declared persona non grata, were expelled from Iran last month,” official news agency IRNA said, according to AFP.

It said the Iranian foreign ministry’s “action... was carried out in response to Baku’s expulsion of Iranian diplomats last month.”

This week, IRNA reported the arrest of leaders and members of the Hussainiyoun Brigade, an armed militia founded in Azerbaijan by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards.

Last month, Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry said it had notified the Iranian ambassador that “four employees of the Iranian embassy were declared persona non grata” with 48 hours to leave the country.

Baku accused the embassy staff of carrying out activities “incompatible with diplomatic status” but did not elaborate.

Tensions between the two countries have increased following an armed attack last January on Azerbaijan’s embassy in Tehran that left an Azerbaijani security official dead and wounded two others.

The attack led to Baku suspending its diplomatic mission in the country.

The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry blamed Iran for the shooting, with spokesman Ayxan Hacizada saying an anti-Azerbaijani campaign had “encouraged the attack.”

At the time, Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani said Tehran strongly condemned the attack, claiming the motivations behind it were “personal.”

Tensions also intensified between both countries with Baku's improving relations with Tehran's arch-enemy Israel. The dispute came to a head when Baku opened an embassy in Israel in late March.

Tehran also fears that Azerbaijani territory could be used for a possible offensive against Iran by Israel, a major arms supplier to Baku, AFP said.

Furthermore, Azerbaijan accused Iran of supporting Armenia against Azeri forces during the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh in late 2020.

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France Holds Day of Mourning for Mayotte Islands Devastated by Cyclone

French President Emmanuel Macron (C-R) and his wife Brigitte Macron (C-L) stand for a minute of silence at the Elysee Palace during a day of national mourning for the lives lost after a cyclone hit the Indian Ocean territory of Mayotte, in Paris, France, 23 December 2024. (EPA)
French President Emmanuel Macron (C-R) and his wife Brigitte Macron (C-L) stand for a minute of silence at the Elysee Palace during a day of national mourning for the lives lost after a cyclone hit the Indian Ocean territory of Mayotte, in Paris, France, 23 December 2024. (EPA)
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France Holds Day of Mourning for Mayotte Islands Devastated by Cyclone

French President Emmanuel Macron (C-R) and his wife Brigitte Macron (C-L) stand for a minute of silence at the Elysee Palace during a day of national mourning for the lives lost after a cyclone hit the Indian Ocean territory of Mayotte, in Paris, France, 23 December 2024. (EPA)
French President Emmanuel Macron (C-R) and his wife Brigitte Macron (C-L) stand for a minute of silence at the Elysee Palace during a day of national mourning for the lives lost after a cyclone hit the Indian Ocean territory of Mayotte, in Paris, France, 23 December 2024. (EPA)

France held a national day of mourning for Mayotte, its Indian Ocean territory devastated by a violent cyclone on Dec. 14, beginning in the morning on Monday with a minute of silence for the scores of residents left dead by the storm.

Cyclone Chido was the worst storm to hit Mayotte's two main islands in 90 years, and authorities have said that perhaps thousands of people may have been killed in its wake, though the government's death toll stands at 35.

To commemorate Mayotte's losses, French flags were lowered to half-mast. Separately, flags were flown at half-mast in Brussels and Strasbourg because of Mayotte, as well as following attacks last week on a German Christmas market and in a Croatian school.

"It is a communion in mourning," Prime Minister Francois Bayrou told reporters. He said the day showed solidarity for those in Mayotte, and that France was "present to reconstruct Mayotte and make sure the people of Mayotte feel surrounded by the entire country."

Following the storm, officials say corpses may have been buried quickly per religious custom, before they could be counted, and that many of the people killed may have been undocumented immigrants.

Mozambique has said 94 people died in the disaster, while 13 were killed in neighboring Malawi.

ANGER

The slow pace of aid and delays in the arrival of clean water have angered residents of Mayotte, France's poorest overseas territory located between Madagascar and Mozambique about 8,000 km (4971 miles) from the mainland, with some heckling President Emmanuel Macron during his visit last week.

For Mohamed Abdou, a doctor in Pamandzi, the day of French mourning was a political stunt and did not do enough to account for historic neglect leading up to this point.

"Whether in terms of hospitals, the lack of water infrastructure, electricity, and so on ... at this point, we need to say 'mea culpa' and acknowledge mistakes were made," he told Reuters, speaking from his town in the south of Mayotte's smaller island.

Francois-Noel Buffet, France's acting minister of overseas territories, told France 2 that water - a flashpoint even before the disaster - had made it to the island, saying: "We are not missing water. We have water, notably bottled water. We have a problem with distribution."

Buffet said he expected a special law on the reconstruction of Mayotte to be introduced in early January.

In Paris, Bayrou, France's fourth prime minister this year, is expected to unveil his cabinet Monday evening, though the timing was uncertain. The French presidency said the announcement would not take place before 6:00 p.m. (1700 GMT), to take into account the day of mourning.

Estelle Youssouffa, a lawmaker for Mayotte, criticized the government in an interview with Radio France Internationale for possibly making the announcement on the day of mourning, accusing Bayrou, who had not yet visited the islands, of "humiliating us a second time."