The Iranian army’s ground forces have begun holding manoeuvres near the country’s border with Azerbaijan, despite criticism from its neighbour. Artillery, drones and helicopters will participate in the drills, the state TV said on Friday, without elaborating on how long they would last or where exactly they would be held. Iran occasionally holds such events, saying it wants to assess combat readiness and demonstrate capabilities.
The exercises come amid escalating tensions along the border. “We respect good neighbourly relations but we do not tolerate the presence of Zionist regime (Israeli) elements and Islamic State terrorists in the region,” ground forces commander Brigadier General Kioumars Heydari told state TV. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev had criticised the Iranian war games in an interview published on Monday.
“Every country can carry out any military drill on its own territory. It’s their sovereign right. But why now, and why on our border?” he told Turkish news agency Anadolu.His comments were rebuffed by Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh.
“The drills carried out by our country in the northwest border areas … are a question of sovereignty,” Khatibzadeh said in a statement on Tuesday. Iran and Azerbaijan share a border of around 700 km (430 miles). A major supplier of arms to Azerbaijan, Israel came under diplomatic fire from Armenia during last year’s conflict between the Caucasus neighbours.
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