TEHRAN – Iran has decided to appoint a new ambassador to the Republic of Azerbaijan amid soaring tensions between the two neighboring countries. 

Tasnim reported that Mojtaba Demirchiloo will replace Seyed Abbas Mousavi as Iran’s envoy to the South Caucasus nation. 

Demirchiloo used to serve as Iran’s ambassador to Kazakhstan.

Mousavi has been serving as the envoy to Baku for three years.

Over the last few days, tensions resurfaced between Iran and the Republic of Azerbaijan over a range of issues, including Baku warming up to Tel Aviv. 

On March 30, Azerbaijan opened an embassy in Israel, drawing the ire of Iran. Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov traveled to Tel Aviv to inaugurate the embassy. Remarks by the Israeli foreign minister during the visit that Azerbaijan and Israel were creating a united front against Iran caused a huge uproar in Tehran. 

“We demanded an explanation from the Azeri government regarding the Zionist regime’s remarks about an agreement between Tel Aviv and Baku to form a united front against Iran. The Azeri Foreign Ministry spokesman declined to respond and instead leveled new accusations against Iran. Isn’t this continued silence an implicit confirmation of Baku's strategic partner? By approaching Muslim countries, the murderous Zionist regime only seeks to cause divisions in the Islamic ummah in order to achieve its expansionist goals,” Nasser Kanaani, the spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry, said on Twitter. 

He added, “We advise our Muslim brothers and sisters in Azerbaijan to be vigilant in the face of the true intentions of the Zionist enemy.”

Kanaani reacted to comments by the Zionist regime’s foreign minister on the “formation of a united front against Iran”, describing the remarks as yet another piece of evidence proving the Zionist regime’s evil intentions to turn the Republic of Azerbaijan’s territory into a threat against the national security of the Islamic Republic of Iran. He strongly condemned the statements, according to the Iranian Foreign Ministry.

Kanaani described the statements of the Zionist regime’s foreign minister regarding the formation of a “united anti-Iranian front,” as well as the statements of the foreign minister of Azerbaijan regarding the content of the talks and a “new stage of strategic partnership” between Azerbaijan and the Zionist regime as an implicit approval of the anti-Iran orientation of their cooperation, demanding an explanation from the Azeri authorities in this regard.

Also, Iran handed Azerbaijan a note of protest over “media immorality” on the part of Baku.