TEHRAN -- Iran’s Foreign
Ministry spokesman on Monday reacted to a recent travel warning issued by Azerbaijan against Iran, saying that what the Azeri people should be afraid of is the “Zionist regime” and not the Islamic Republic.
In tweets, Nasser Kanaani emphasized that Tehran remains committed to visa waiver with Azerbaijan despite Baku’s travel advisory.
“Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry has warned its citizens against traveling to Iran! This is the same policy adopted by the president of the fake, child-killing, and occupying Zionist regime during his recent trip to Baku,” he wrote in Persian.
“The one that the people of Azerbaijan should be frightened of is the Zionist regime not the civilized and Islamic Iran,” he said.
Last month, Zionist president Isaac Herzog travelled to Azerbaijan where he said after meeting with his Azeri counterpart Ilham Aliyev that the two spoke in depth about regional security “endangered and threatened by Iran.”
Kanaani said Iran sticks to the policy of good neighborliness within the framework of mutual respect. “Our policy is still visa waiver and open arms to our Azeri brothers and sisters,” he added.
Azerbaijan’s relations with Iran were strained in January following an attack on the Eurasian country’s embassy in Tehran. Azerbaijan closed its diplomatic mission and evacuated staff over what it falsely described as a “terrorist act,” with President Aliyev blaming it on the “Iranian establishment.”
This is while an initial investigation pointed to “personal and family-related problems” as the motive of the assailant.
In a statement released on Saturday, Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry again tried to portray the incident as a “terrorist attack”, calling on Azeri citizens “not to visit Iran unless absolutely necessary” and advising travelers to exercise “extra caution.” It also asked Azeri citizens, who are now in Iran, to observe security measures more than before.
Some reports said all flights from Baku to Tehran had been canceled but Heydar the Aliyev International Airport denied the reports.
The Zionist regime supplies nearly 70 percent of Azerbaijan’s weaponry and in return receives about half of its imported oil from Baku.