The Iranian government on Monday appealed for «restraint» and «political calm» to Azerbaijan in view of the escalation of tensions over the death of the head of the security services of the Azeri Embassy in Tehran in an armed attack on the legation, an event that also resulted in two wounded.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Naser Kanani called on Baku to avoid «rash» actions and stressed that investigations into the case suggest that the suspect, arrested after the assault, acted out of «personal motives».
He stressed that Tehran has taken the «necessary measures» to lower tensions and regretted that the Azeri authorities suspended activities at the embassy, as reported by the Iranian news agency Tasnim.
Kanani defended that Iran has fulfilled «all its legal duties» and promised that «they will follow the matter from a principled framework». «We hope that relations between the two countries will not be further affected by this incident,» he said, while advocating for resolving the misunderstandings.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev last week criticized Iran’s security forces for failing to take «serious measures» to prevent the attack, days after Azerbaijani Deputy Foreign Minister Jalaf Jalafov said Baku has no confidence in the security guarantees Iranian authorities can promise for its diplomatic employees.
For his part, Aliyev «fiercely» condemned the «terrorist attack» and called on Iranian authorities to have the incident «promptly investigated and the terrorists punished.» Iran condemned the incident and stressed that preliminary investigations pointed to «personal motives».
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
