TEHRAN: Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian is set to pay a rare visit to Azerbaijan next week, state media reported Wednesday, in the latest sign of warming relations between the neighbouring countries.
Pezeshkian will be travelling to Baku on Monday “at the invitation” of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, state television reported.
On Wednesday, Pezeshkian expressed hopes for “rapid and serious improvement” in relations and cooperation between the two countries as part of a broader effort to “mend ties”, according to the presidency.
Relations between the two countries have been strained for years, largely due to Baku’s close ties with Iran’s arch-enemy Israel and a January 2023 attack on Azerbaijan’s embassy in Tehran.
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Tehran has repeatedly expressed concern that Azerbaijani territory could be used for a possible attack on Iran by Israel, a major arms supplier to Baku.
In the January 2023 attack on the Azerbaijani embassy, a gunman killed a diplomat and wounded two security guards.
Iran condemned the violence but cited “personal” grievances as the motive.
In April that year, Azerbaijan expelled four Iranian diplomats from Baku. A month later, Iran followed suit, kicking out four Azerbaijani diplomats.
Azerbaijan’s embassy resumed operations that July.
In January, the Iranian judiciary announced that the attacker had been sentenced to death and that his execution was pending.
Another point of contention between the two governments has been the so-called Zangezur corridor, a proposed direct land link between Azerbaijan and Tehran’s historic rival Turkey.
Tehran has vehemently opposed the project, which would run along Iran’s border with Armenia.
In a recent sign of thawing ties, Iran and Azerbaijan held two days of joint naval exercises in the Caspian Sea in November, according to Iranian media.
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