BAKU (Realist English). Authorities in Azerbaijan threatened retaliation after two drones struck the Nakhchivan exclave on March 5, injuring two people and damaging infrastructure at the region’s airport.
According to Azerbaijan’s defense ministry, the unmanned aerial vehicles originated from Iranian territory. One drone hit a building at Nakhchivan airport, located about 10 kilometers from the Iranian border, while another crashed near a school in the village of Shakarabad.
“These acts of aggression will not remain unanswered,” the ministry said in a statement, adding that response measures were being prepared to protect national sovereignty and civilian security.
Azerbaijan’s foreign ministry summoned Iran’s ambassador to lodge a formal protest and demanded that Tehran take urgent steps to prevent similar incidents in the future.
Iranian authorities had not publicly responded to the accusations at the time of publication.
The incident comes as security tensions escalate across the region following the launch of US-Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28.
Turkey said it had introduced additional security measures along its borders, including those with Iran, while closely monitoring the activities of the Kurdish militant group PJAK, which seeks autonomy in Iran.
In a separate development, NATO reportedly intercepted a ballistic missile on March 4 that had been launched from Iranian territory and was heading toward Turkish airspace. It marked the first reported instance of the alliance directly intercepting a missile during the current escalation.
Iran denied firing any missiles toward Turkey. The semi-official Nour news agency cited the Iranian armed forces’ general staff as rejecting the reports.
Relations between Iran and Azerbaijan have been strained for years. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev previously accused Iranian authorities of responsibility for a 2023 armed attack on Azerbaijan’s embassy in Tehran.
Tehran has repeatedly criticized Baku’s close strategic relationship with Israel. Azerbaijan supplies oil to Israel and has purchased advanced military equipment from Israeli companies, including drones and surveillance systems.
Iranian officials have described those ties as a security concern and have accused Israel of using its cooperation with Azerbaijan for intelligence activities near Iran’s borders.
Local media in Azerbaijan have also reported increased military activity near the country’s southern frontier with Iran since the start of the latest regional escalation, though those reports remain unconfirmed.
