Iranian Spiritual Leader Ali Khamenei has defended his country’s decision to hold military exercises near the border with Azerbaijan, which other officials have linked to the close ties between Baku and Tel Aviv, Bloomberg News reported on Sunday.
Khamenei said that Iran would start military exercises related to competition with Israel, without naming a specific country or party.
He emphasized that countries in the region around Iran’s northwest shouldn’t allow “foreign armies that are serving their own national interests” to interfere in their affairs or become involved in their armies.
According to Bloomberg, Khamenei stressed that the presence of foreign forces in the Middle East was “a source of destruction” and urged neighboring countries to “stay independent” and “join forces.”
Iran is concerned about Azerbaijan’s ties to Israel, which has sold drones and other high-tech weapons that helped Baku make gains in its war last year with Armenia over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region.
On Friday, the ground forces of the Iranian army began military exercises in the northwest regions of the country near the border with Azerbaijan, according to official media, days after Baku criticized the move.
Iranian state TV reported that the maneuvers were launched in the morning in northwestern Iran. The channel broadcast footage of tanks and armored vehicles participating in the military exercise, while helicopters bombed ground targets.
“We respect good-neighborly relations, but we will not tolerate the presence of elements of the Zionist regime and terrorists from ISIS in the region,” Army Ground Forces Commander Brigadier General Kioumars Heydari told the television channel.
