IRANIAN
PRIORITIES
VIS-À-VIS
AZERBAIJAN
Tensions between Baku and Tehran are
manifest in more than one area, though in
particular in foreign policy and security
issues. To counteract the strong Russian and
Iranian
opposition,
Azerbaijan
has
maintained strategic relations with the
United States, the European Union, NATO,
and Israel. Moreover, Baku continues to
espouse a pro-Western strategy, despite
direct calls from Tehran to end its
cooperation with the "Great Satan" (United
States) and "Small Satan" (Israel).
15
Tehran's official propaganda declares
Israel as a main enemy of the Islamic world.
Azerbaijani policy, however, differs. It does
not view Israel as an enemy and considers it
a friendly country, in which Muslims and
Jews can live in peace and friendship. At the
same time, Azerbaijan has developed close
ties with Turkey, Iran's rival in the Islamic
world. Baku and Ankara cooperate and
operate as a strong alliance on the global and
regional levels, which has angered Iran.
Thus, Azerbaijan's independence and its
secular and democratic nature of power as
well as its pro-Western government are
strong exacerbating factors for Iran's
policymakers. In light of this, Iran's key
priorities towards Azerbaijan can be
identified as follows:
1.
To spread the Iranian Islamic
Revolution's ideas to Azerbaijan;
2.
To intensify Shi’i ideology
propaganda
and
expand
the
Islamic network;
3.
To
destabilize
the
political
situation in Azerbaijan in an
attempt to establish a pro-Islamic
or Shi’i regime;
4.
To
damage
or
discredit
Azerbaijan's independence, as
well as its secular and democratic
nature;
5.
To intensify intelligence activity
and
expand
its
espionage
network;
6.
To
limit
and
minimize
Azerbaijan's influence on Iranian
Azeris;
7.
To support the separatism of local
ethnic groups (Talish, Lesgi, and
others);
8.
To halt Israel's cooperation with
Azerbaijan and Georgia;
9.
To minimize U.S. influence and
curtail
Azerbaijan's
bid
for
EU/NATO membership;
10.
To
damage
Azerbaijan's
international image and pro-
Western foreign policy;
11.
To contain Azerbaijan’s rise to
regional power;
12.
To exert constant pressure on and
intimidate Azerbaijan to use
military force;
13.
To
provide
assistance
to
Azerbaijan's
regional
rival--
Armenia--to maintain the balance
between the two countries, and to
keep Azerbaijan engaged in war
with Armenia;
14.
To support Russia's "cosmetic"
attempts to solve the Nagorno-
Karabakh conflict;
15.
To preserve Azerbaijan under
Russia's dominance.
Last, as tensions between Iran and both
the United States and Israel has grown, Iran
has increased pressure and threats to use
military force against Azerbaijan.
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In face
of America's military option to stop the
Iranian nuclear program, Iran has attempted
to keep Azerbaijan outside of the anti-
Iranian alliance. There is also an ideological
Israeli-Azerbaijani Alliance and Iran
Middle East Review of International Affairs, Vol. 17, No. 1 (Spring 2013) 61
dimension to Iran's desire to secure
Azerbaijan's neutrality. As the second
largest Shi’i country in the world, if
Azerbaijan were to become a member of an
anti-Iran alliance, this would significantly
decrease the mullah's ideological defense
that only the Shi'a can fight against enemies
and stop "crusaders" and Jews.
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