Omid Shokri writes for The Jamestown Foundation: Despite a rapprochement of sorts in 2019 (see EDM, March 20, 2019), Iran’s relations with the Republic of Azerbaijan faced new strains and challenges during the final year of Hassan Rouhani’s presidency (set to end on August 3, 2021), especially following the outbreak of the Second Karabakh War in late September 2020. Azerbaijani officials and the media repeatedly protested and criticized Tehran’s foreign policy amidst the 44-day Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict (see EDM, October 21, 2020). While, domestically, Iran’s ethnic Azerbaijani population expressed outward support for Baku’s battlefield successes, much to Tehran’s discomfort (see EDM, October 22, 2020 and November 5, 2020); even local officials, members of parliament and clerics at Friday prayers in Iran’s Azerbaijani-populated northwestern border region demanded that the central government do more to back Baku’s position (Al Jazeera, October 5, 2020)
read more: Iranian-Azerbaijani Relations Under the New Raisi Administration – Jamestown
