Aliyev demands 'punishment'

Aliyev touched upon Azerbaijan-Iran relations during his evaluations of the agenda on local television channels.

Stating that they have not yet had any serious contact with Iran's new administration, Aliyev noted that government officials have held a number of meetings in the fields of economy and transportation.

Aliyev stated that Azerbaijan was not responsible for the deterioration of relations with Iran's previous administration, recalling that after the 2nd Karabakh War ended, Iranian trucks transported fuel to Karabakh, which was under the control of the so-called Armenian administration at the time.

Reporting that they demanded Iran stop this, but heard threatening statements from Iran, Aliyev said, "They held military exercises at the border. We did the same at the border. We showed that we are not afraid of anyone and that we are in the right."

Recalling that there have been insulting broadcasts against Azerbaijan in the Iranian press and that a terrorist attack was carried out on the Azerbaijani Embassy in Tehran, Aliyev shared the information, "Two years have passed since the attack. The sentence (death penalty) given to the person who carried out the attack has not yet been carried out. This was an organized event. Azerbaijan has also withdrawn all embassy staff."

Stating that the late former Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian had promised him that the person who attacked the embassy would be executed, Aliyev said, "But they deceived us again. The death penalty was not carried out. The file was sent back from the court to the prosecutor's office. We are persistent in our demand."

Recalling that Ameli, the Ardabil representative of Iranian Supreme Leader Khamenei, has repeatedly made insulting statements against Azerbaijan and himself, Aliyev said, "The question is, how does the man who appointed him there approach this? We know very well who appointed him. Does he support this? Who will apologize to Azerbaijan? Will they apologize or not? The statement from Iran's Ministry of Foreign Affairs is not enough. In an official event, on live broadcast, the presidents of Turkey and Azerbaijan are being insulted. Therefore, the statement 'we are saddened' is unacceptable. The provincial mullah (Ameli) must be punished; at the very least, he should be removed from his post and apologize to Azerbaijan."

News Source: AA