Iran’s army to hold drill near the tense border with Azerbaijan

Iran’s army to hold drill near the tense border with Azerbaijan

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran’s army put its wary neighbors on notice Thursday that it’s about to conduct a wide-ranging military exercise near its northwestern border amid long-simmering tensions with Azerbaijan.

The commander of the Iranian army’s ground forces, Gen. Kioumars Heidari, said the drill would test weapons, assess the combat readiness of troops and demonstrate the country’s military capabilities. It would involve drones, attack helicopters, tanks, and artillery.

The state-run IRNA news agency’s report did not specify the exact area the exercise would cover. But the drill, which starts on Friday, is bound to put Iranian troops and weapons close to the tense border with Azerbaijan — a prospect that has already raised alarm in the ex-Soviet Caspian Sea nation.

Earlier this week, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said he was stunned by the planned drill in an interview with Turkey’s state-run Anadolu Agency.

“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 said, noting it was the first time since the fall of the Soviet Union that Iran was intending to stage such a show of force so close to its border.

Iran long has been skeptical of Azerbaijan over its ties to the West and deep military cooperation with the Islamic Republic’s archrival, Israel.

Azerbaijan and Israel have strengthened their military alliance in recent months, with Israeli-supplied high-tech drones helping to tilt the conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia over the Nagorno-Karabakh region in Baku’s favor last year.

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