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Azerbaijan Reopens Its Embassy in Iran as the Two Countries Try to Ease Tensions

The building of the Azerbaijan Embassy is seen in Tehran, Iran, Jan 27, 2023. (PHOTO / AP)
The building of the Azerbaijan Embassy is seen in Tehran, Iran, Jan 27, 2023. (PHOTO / AP)
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Azerbaijan Reopens Its Embassy in Iran as the Two Countries Try to Ease Tensions

The building of the Azerbaijan Embassy is seen in Tehran, Iran, Jan 27, 2023. (PHOTO / AP)
The building of the Azerbaijan Embassy is seen in Tehran, Iran, Jan 27, 2023. (PHOTO / AP)

The embassy of Azerbaijan in Tehran resumed its work Monday after more than a year of negotiations between the two countries to ease tensions, Iran's semi-official media outlets reported.
A source in the Azeri embassy in Tehran told The Associated Press that the embassy has resumed its operations in the Iranian capital, but said it won’t be officially announced until the Iranian foreign ministry confirms the development.
But an Azeri website news.az Monday quoted Azerbaijan’s foreign ministry as saying that its embassy in Iran has restarted work at a new address in Tehran. The report added that the embassy reopened following negotiations between Azerbaijan and Iran.
Relations between Tehran and Baku, which have been tense for a long time, soured further after a gunman in January 2023 stormed Azerbaijan’s embassy in Iran’s capital, killing its security chief and wounding two guards.
Iran said the attack was based on a personal cause, and said the gunman’s wife had disappeared after a visit to the embassy, but Azeri President Ilham Aliyev called the assault a “terrorist attack.” Baku accused Tehran of supporting hard-liners who tried to overthrow its government, a charge Tehran denied.
In April 2023, Azerbaijan expelled four Iranian diplomats from Baku. A month later, Iran expelled four Azeri diplomats, who had been working in Azerbaijan’s Embassy in Tehran and its consulate in the northwestern city of Tabriz.
The attack spiked long-simmering tensions between the two neighboring countries.
Relations between the two also remain tense because Azerbaijan in March 2023 opened an embassy in Israel. Azerbaijan also maintains close ties to Israel, which Tehran views as its top regional enemy. Iran has repeatedly opposed improving relations between Azerbaijan and Israel.
There have been tensions between the two countries as Azerbaijan and Armenia have fought over the Nagorno-Karabakh region. Iran also wants to maintain its 44-kilometer (27-mile) border with landlocked Armenia — something that could be threatened if Azerbaijan seizes new territory through warfare.
Iran-Azerbaijan’s relations improved during the late Ebrahim Raisi, the former Iranian president’s era. In May, Iran and Azerbaijan inaugurated a dam of Qiz Qalasi, or Castel of Girl in Azeri, on a joint border river in northwest Iran. Aliyev attended the inauguration.
During the ceremony, Raisi said that the relationship between Tehran and Bakus is beyond neighboring and is “unbreakable.”
Raisi died in a helicopter crash — that also killed the country’s foreign minister and others — just after the inauguration ceremony. His body was found a day after the crash.

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Military Official: China to 'Crush' Foreign Encroachment in South China Sea

People walk past a sign of the 11th Xiangshan Forum at the Beijing International Convention Center on September 12, 2024. (Photo by ADEK BERRY / AFP)
People walk past a sign of the 11th Xiangshan Forum at the Beijing International Convention Center on September 12, 2024. (Photo by ADEK BERRY / AFP)
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Military Official: China to 'Crush' Foreign Encroachment in South China Sea

People walk past a sign of the 11th Xiangshan Forum at the Beijing International Convention Center on September 12, 2024. (Photo by ADEK BERRY / AFP)
People walk past a sign of the 11th Xiangshan Forum at the Beijing International Convention Center on September 12, 2024. (Photo by ADEK BERRY / AFP)

China will "crush" any foreign incursion into its sovereign territory including in the South China Sea, a senior Beijing military official said Thursday on the sidelines of a defense forum.

Washington and Beijing have verbally sparred over China's increasingly assertive approach in disputed maritime regions, including the South China Sea.

In recent months, Chinese vessels have engaged in a series of high-profile confrontations with Philippine ships in the waters, which Beijing claims almost in their entirety despite an international court ruling that its assertion has no legal basis.

Speaking to a small group of journalists including AFP at the Xiangshan forum, Chinese army Lieutenant General He Lei said: "We hope that the South China Sea will remain a sea of peace."

But, he said, "if the United States moves its pawns behind the scenes, if it pushes countries to the front line, or if the United States itself ends up on the front line, then we in the Chinese People's Liberation Army... will never have any patience.”

"We in the Chinese People's Liberation Army will resolutely crush any foreign hostile encroachment on China's territorial, sovereign and maritime rights and interests with firm determination, staunch will, strong capability and effective means," He said.

On Wednesday, China and the Philippines held what they called "candid" talks on South China Sea issues, in particular over a disputed reef that has become a hotspot for recent bilateral clashes.

"Both sides agreed to continue discussions on areas of cooperation, especially on hotline mechanisms, coast guard cooperation, and marine scientific and technological cooperation," a readout from the Philippine foreign ministry said.

And on Thursday, Lieutenant General He said a resolution to tensions between Beijing and Washington over the issue "depends on the United States.”

He also confirmed that US Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Michael Chase would attend this week's Xiangshan forum in Beijing.

"I hope that during his visit, during his meetings here, Michael Chase will listen more to the voices of China and the Chinese military," he said.

"The message we are sending to the United States is that we want the two countries and armies to be partners, to be friends, we want to pursue China-US relations featuring win-win cooperation," he said.

"We want the United States to make more contributions to regional and world peace, security and stability," he added.

Scores of delegates were in the Chinese capital Thursday for the Xiangshan forum, dubbed China's answer to Singapore's annual "Shangri-La" meeting.

It is set to host more than 500 representatives from over 90 countries and international organisations, organisers have said.

Official speeches are expected on Friday, when the forum's opening ceremony will take place and top military representatives from Russia, Pakistan, Singapore, Iran, Germany and others will participate in roundtable discussions.