Iran edgy about Azerbaijan, Israel, and Turkey’s plot against Armenia
Kanako Mita, Sawako Utsumi, and Lee Jay Walker
Modern Tokyo Times
Armenians in the Republic of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) fear being cleansed by the armed forces of Azerbaijan – which NATO Turkey backs and Israel by stealth. The angle of Israel concerns military sales to Azerbaijan that have modernized the armed forces of this nation and tilted the balance away from Armenia.
Israel and Iran also support competing forces throughout the Middle East concerning the enormous animosity between both nations. Hence, with many Azeris residing in Northern Iran and the economic development of Azerbaijan related to the energy resources of this nation: then Israel believes that Azerbaijan serves the national interests of Israel vis-a-vis the geopolitical struggle with Iran. Similarly, Iran supports militant Palestinian forces, the government of Syria, and Hezbollah in Lebanon. These policies are part of Iran’s anti-Israel policies. Therefore, this bodes ill for Armenia because military sales by Israel to Azerbaijan have altered the dynamics against Armenia and the Armenian-populated Republic of Artsakh.
The Jamestown Foundation reports (Vali Kaleji), “…the massive maneuvers of Iran’s army and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) on its northwestern border in September and October 2021, unprecedented in the three decades since the collapse of the Soviet Union, signals the level and depth of Iran’s concerns about recent developments in the South Caucasus (Valdaiclub.com, January 18). Indeed, the outbreaks of violence between Armenia and Azerbaijan, the repeated threats of Baku to open the Zangezur Corridor by force, Turkey’s ongoing support of Azerbaijan and Russia’s silence and ambiguous position regarding the region have further exacerbated Tehran’s concerns. On the sidelines of the 7thSummit of the Astana Peace Process in Tehran, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and clearly delineated that “if there is a policy to block the Iranian-Armenian border, the Islamic Republic will oppose it because this border has been a communication route for thousands of years” (Fars News Agency, July 19).”
The Persian Gulf-Black Sea Corridor, the Aras River Basin, and the Zangezur Corridor are significant geopolitical and economic concerns for Iran. If Azerbaijan and Turkey have a continuous land border – with no Armenian territory in between – this will further weaken the hand of Iran. Also, economic and military growth in Azerbaijan might embolden nationalist tendencies among Azeris in Northern Iran. Therefore, with Azerbaijan and Israel relations being extremely cordial, Iran fears that Israel will utilize Azerbaijan to make inroads within the gathering of information and plot regional intrigues against Iran.
In recent aggression by Azerbaijan, several atrocities against Christian Armenians took place. Modern Tokyo Times recently reported, “Recent brutality by the armed forces of Azerbaijan includes the following: the mutilation of the body of a female Armenian soldier – and another video shows captured Armenian soldiers being killed in Ishkhanasar. In the massacre in Ishkhanasar, video footage shows a hail of bullets killing Armenian soldiers after the armed forces of Azerbaijan illegally entered Armenia.”
Azerbaijan and NATO Turkey seek to utilize aggression and fear – to impose their collective power over Armenia. The European Union is indifferent to Armenia because of the energy angle of Azerbaijan. After all, this economic bloc needs alternative energy resources outside of the Russian Federation. Therefore, the energy weakness of the European Union – along with the preoccupation of the Russian Federation with events in Ukraine and the Donbass (Donbas) region – bodes ill for Artsakh and the territorial integrity of Armenia.
Armenia is geopolitically weak concerning the role of Turkey in the power dynamics of Azerbaijan. Also, military arms from Israel to Azerbaijan mean that Armenia faces an uphill battle on the military front. Therefore, Armenia needs to strengthen ties with Iran – and reach out to America, France, and the Russian Federation – to boost the safety of this embattled nation.
https://jamestown.org/program/iran-increasingly-uneasy-about-threats-to-common-border-with-armenia/
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