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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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North Korea Launches Multiple Ballistic Missiles

A directional sign showing the distance to North Korea's Kaesong and Seoul stands in front of fences adorned with ribbons bearing messages wishing for the reunification of the two Koreas at the Imjingak Pavilion in Paju, South Korea, Saturday, May 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
A directional sign showing the distance to North Korea's Kaesong and Seoul stands in front of fences adorned with ribbons bearing messages wishing for the reunification of the two Koreas at the Imjingak Pavilion in Paju, South Korea, Saturday, May 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
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North Korea Launches Multiple Ballistic Missiles

A directional sign showing the distance to North Korea's Kaesong and Seoul stands in front of fences adorned with ribbons bearing messages wishing for the reunification of the two Koreas at the Imjingak Pavilion in Paju, South Korea, Saturday, May 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
A directional sign showing the distance to North Korea's Kaesong and Seoul stands in front of fences adorned with ribbons bearing messages wishing for the reunification of the two Koreas at the Imjingak Pavilion in Paju, South Korea, Saturday, May 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

North Korea fired multiple short-range ballistic missiles toward the sea on Thursday, its neighbors said, days after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un vowed to put his nuclear force fully ready for battle with its rivals.
According to The Associated Press, South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said it detected the missiles launched from North Korea's capital flying 360 kilometers before landing in the waters between the Korean Peninsula and Japan. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida instructed officials to ensure the safety of ships and aircraft, but there were no reports of damage.
The reported fight distances suggest the missiles were designed to attack targets in South Korea. In trilateral phone talks, diplomats from South Korea, Japan and the US condemned the launches that they said threatens regional and international peace. The US Indo-Pacific Command separately reaffirmed that the U.S. security commitment to South Korea and Japan remains “ironclad.”
The launches were North Korea's first public weapons firing activities in more than two months. On July 1, North Korea claimed to have tested a new tactical weapon capable of delivering a “super-large” 4.5 ton-class warhead.
In a Monday speech marking his government's 76th foundation anniversary, Kim said he would redouble efforts to make his nuclear force fully ready for combat with the United States and its allies. Kim made such a pledge saying North Korea faces “a grave threat” because of what he called “the reckless expansion” of a US-led regional military bloc.
Kim has made similar vows numerous times, but his latest threat came as outside experts believe North Korea could carry out a nuclear test explosion or long-range missile test-launches ahead of the US presidential election in November to boost its leverage in future dealings with the US.
On Sunday, North Korea's state media published a photo of Kim inspecting a 12-axel vehicle that would be the country's biggest missile launch platform. That sparked speculation that the North could be developing a more powerful intercontinental ballistic missile designed to strike the US mainland.
Commercial satellite images indicate that North Korea’s northeastern nuclear test site incurred minor damage from heavy summer rains in recent weeks and that no notable recent work was detected at its tunnels, 38 North, a North Korea-focused website, said an analytical piece published Wednesday.