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Azerbaijan in late April crossed a self-imposed “red line” in its relations with southern neighbor Iran by dispatching Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov on a visit to Israel, Tehran’s arch-foe, Shahin Abbasov wrote in an article “Azerbaijan: Israel Diplomatic Trip Tweaks Tehran” on the site “EurasiaNet”.

Reasons for the timing of the move are not clear, but, so far, Tehran appears to be biding its time with a response. Shahin Abbasov notes that though while Israel and Azerbaijan – like Iran, a majority Shi’a Muslim country -- have maintained strong diplomatic, economic and military ties for years, Mammadyarov’s April 21-24 trip was the first time an Azerbaijani cabinet member had made such a high-profile visit to Tel Aviv.

“With one eye seemingly on Iran, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry avoided attaching the word “official” to the visit. Instead, it cast the ministerial mission as undertaken within the context of Azerbaijan’s status as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council,” the article reads.

However as the author notes, even so, the trip had all the markings of an official visit. No documents were signed, but Mammadyarov met with Israeli President Shimon Peres, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon, among other senior officials. A statement that Baku would consider opening an embassy in Israel concluded the mission. “It is a matter of time,” Mammadyarov said at an April 26 news conference in Baku.

“A few days later, it was time to offer explanations to Iran,” Shahin Abbasov stated.

Thus, on April 29, Azerbaijani National Security Council Secretary Ramiz Mehdiyev, who doubles as President Ilham Aliyev’s influential administration chief, flew to Tehran to meet with Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad and other senior Iranian officials. Although the government did not specify the agenda, many Azerbaijanis believe the trip was taken to sooth an angry Tehran.
“Mehdiyev went to assure Iran that Baku is not going to host Israeli military bases or provide its territory for attacks on Iran,” in connection with the international campaign to stop Iranian development of a nuclear weapon, commented Baku-based political analyst Zardusht Alizade, a Middle-East specialist.

The author notes that the relations between Iran and Azerbaijan have never been rosy, but Baku previously has been careful not to push its powerful neighbor’s patience to the breaking point. For instance, Tehran’s enmity toward the Israeli government fostered an unofficial taboo on Azerbaijani officials visiting Israel. Against that backdrop, Vafa Guladze, a former presidential foreign-policy adviser, deemed Mammadyarov’s excursion “revolutionary,” the Turan news agency reported. “A reason why Baku would want to take a “revolutionary” step at this time remains unclear.”

Shahin Abbasov says that, referring to Iran as “the greatest threat to the region,” Peres did not hide that the Islamic Republic had been among the topics on the table with Mammadyarov. “If Tehran had been looking for an opportunity to smack Azerbaijan down to size, it has not taken it yet: Iranian officials have not reacted publicly to Mammadyarov’s Israel trip,” the author writes.

He also stressed how Mehdiyev described Mammadyarov’s trip to his Iranian hosts also is unknown, although Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency reported that Ahmadinejad blamed “Zionist and US intelligenc[e]” for “trying to weaken relations of two countries. Playing to his Iranian audience, the Azerbaijani national security chief blamed the West for “taking some steps which violate peace and stability in Azerbaijan,” IRNA reported – an apparent reference to a series of unsanctioned anti-government protests earlier this year.

Rauf Mirkadirov, a political columnist for the Russian-language Zerkalo newspaper commented saying that he did not think that visit to Israel will bring any real changes.