BAKU. Feb 20 (Interfax) - Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has conditioned normalization of Baku-Tehran relations on the Iranian authorities' identification and prosecution of everyone behind the terrorist attack on the Azerbaijani embassy to Iran.
"You are aware of the terror attack on our embassy. It was a premeditated terror attack on the Azerbaijani diplomatic mission. The terrorist was not disarmed for 30 to 40 minutes, police cruisers and security officers [of Iran] came and went, but he was allowed to enter the embassy building twice, kill an embassy security guard and injure another two," Aliyev said in an interview with Azerbaijani journalists.
Courage of a security guard, who disarmed the terrorist, probably saved the lives of dozens of Azerbaijanis, Aliyev said. "The thing is that families of our diplomats, including their children, lived in that house. Therefore, we demand an immediate, transparent investigation of the case. The fact that the terrorist gave an interview to Iranian media after the attack proves he is one of those sent by certain representatives of the Iranian establishment. It's even stranger that he was declared mentally handicapped two days later. How could they make the assessment so quickly? It was a step to prevent him from standing trial," Aliyev said.
The Iranian government should hold a transparent investigation, "we should be duly informed, and the terrorist should be punished," Aliyev said. "Yet, most importantly, those who sent the terrorist, representatives of the Iranian establishment who committed that harsh attack on Azerbaijan, should face the court. Only after that we will be able to speak of any normalization of relations [with Iran]," he said.
The armed attack on the Azerbaijani embassy in Iran was perpetrated at about 8:30 a.m. on January 27, 2023. The assailant armed with a Kalashnikov rifle killed the embassy's security chief. Two security guards were wounded while deterring the attack.
As the Azerbaijani president described the incident as a terrorist attack, Baku decided to evacuate all staff members of the embassy in Tehran and their families. The evacuation was accomplished on January 29.
The Azerbaijani embassy in Tehran is not operating for now.
The Iranian authorities insist that the assailant had personal reasons to attack the embassy. Baku rejects this line of investigation.