Since at least mid-October 2022, Iran and Azerbaijan have been grappling with the latest and most serious wave of escalations between the two neighboring, Shia-majority Muslim nations in recent years. The escalation has manifested itself most clearly through the war games being conducted along the shared Iranian-Azerbaijani border, increasingly brash official rhetoric and mutual accusations, as well as the arrests of two groups of Azerbaijani citizens by the Iranian security services on espionage charges.
Considering the shared history between the two nations, we can observe how the past continues to reverberate in the nuances of the present standoff. Amid the most recent escalation, Iranian Member of Parliament (MP) Seyid Mahammarza Mirtajiddini told Iran-based network Sahar TV, known for airing the Iranian perspective on Azerbaijan, that Tehran “has not forgotten their history” and threatened Azerbaijan with “reviving the Gulistan (1813) and Turkmenchay (1828) treaties.” He added, “It is Iran that has the right to claim on those areas, which the Russian Empire had separated from Iran by war” (YouTube, November 5).
Historical Trauma Hangs Over Iranian-Azerbaijani Saga – Jamestown
