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For Azerbaijan, the most attractive Iran military product would be ballistic missiles, which Baku has sought since September 2016, when it emerged that Armenia had acquired advanced Russian Iskander-M missiles, according to an article published by EurasiaNet on 1 November.

“For Iran, meanwhile, selling weapons to Azerbaijan carries a significant security risk, given the possibility that Azerbaijan could share the technology with Israel. In addition, Iran is not inclined to favor either Azerbaijan and Armenia and thus far it has not sold any conventional weapons to either state,” EurasiaNet wrote.

The news agency has touched upon the first meeting of the Azerbaijani and Iranian Joint Working Group on Military Cooperation hosted by Baku on October 24 and 25, adding this working group was established back in 2015, on a visit by Iranian Defense Minister Hussein Dehgan to Baku. 

“The two-year delay in holding the first meeting raised questions about how serious Iran and Azerbaijan are about genuine cooperation, particularly considering Azerbaijan's close military relationship with Israel, Tehran's main foe.

The question of potential arms purchases from Iran has been especially closely watched. Aliyev, during a 2016 meeting to Germany, said: “It is no secret that we buy weapons from Turkey, Israel, Belarus, Iran and many other countries, which helps to modernize our army.”

Shortly following last year's “April War” with Armenia over Nagorno Karabakh, retired Lieutenant General Yashar Aydemirov told local media that Azerbaijan used Iranian weapons during that conflict. But the weapons he identified, including howitzers and multiple lauch rocket systems, are of Russian origin, produced in Iran.

In any case, these weapons are relatively outdated, and do not provide any significant advantage for Azerbaijan’s military arsenal. That's especially true compared to the contributions Israeli weaponry have made to Azerbaijan's armed forces,” reads the article.