Azerbaijan hopes perpetrators of January’s embassy attack in Iran will be punished ‘justly’

By Burc Eruygur

ISTANBUL (AA) - Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on Wednesday expressed hope that the perpetrators of January’s attack on his country’s embassy in the Iranian capital Tehran will be punished “justly.”

This came during a meeting between Aliyev and Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian on the sidelines of a ministerial meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement in the capital Baku, according to an Azerbaijani presidency statement.

The statement said Amir-Abdollahian expressed that Iran’s judicial and law-enforcement bodies are investigating the attack against the Azerbaijani Embassy in Tehran and that he hoped the embassy would resume its operations soon.

On Jan. 27, a gunman stormed the Azerbaijani mission in the Iranian capital, killing the security in charge and wounding two others.

Azerbaijan has since evacuated its staff and their family members from the mission following the attack and also advised its citizens against traveling to Iran.

The meeting between Aliyev and Amir-Abdollahian also addressed bilateral issues, especially economic and trade relations.

“During the conversation, they hailed the upward dynamics of economic and trade relations in recent years, and shared their views on the North-South transport corridor and, along with this route, the outlook for the realization of the communication links between the East Zangezur Economic Region and Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic of Azerbaijan,” the statement said.

The International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC) is a 7,200-km (4,473-mile) multimode transportation network between India and Europe.

Aliyev later held individual meetings with Montenegrin Prime Minister Dritan Abazovic, as well as the foreign ministers of Uzbekistan and Palestine.