UPDATE - Azerbaijani leader 'strongly' condemns 'act of terrorism' in Azerbaijan's Embassy in Tehran

UPDATES WITH STATEMENTS BY AZERBAIJAN'S FOREIGN MINISTRY, FOREIGN MINISTER

By Ceyhun Alizade

ANKARA (AA) - Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on Friday "strongly" condemned the "act of terrorism" in Azerbaijan's Embassy in Tehran, which left one embassy guard dead and two others wounded.

Aliyev demanded the "terrorist act" be investigated as soon as possible and the terrorists punished.

"Terrorist attack on diplomatic missions is unacceptable!" he said on Twitter.

The Azerbaijani leader also offered his deepest condolences to the family and relatives of Senior Lt. Orkhan Asgarov, who was "martyred" while protecting the embassy and its staff.

An armed assailant attacked Azerbaijan's Embassy in Tehran on Friday morning using an automatic weapon, officials said.

The incident took place at around 8.30 a.m. local time (0500GMT) when the armed man opened fire at the picket of embassy guards in northern Tehran, according to local sources.

The attacker was immediately arrested by security forces, Tehran's police chief Hossein Rahimi told media persons at the scene of the incident, confirming the death of one person.

In a separate statement, Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry said it “strongly condemns the treacherous terrorist attack against” Azerbaijan’s Embassy in Iran.

“As the country where the embassy is located, the Iranian side had to fulfill its obligation to ensure the security of the embassy and the safety of its employees arising from the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations,” the statement read.

“There have been attempts to threaten our diplomatic mission in Iran before, and measures to prevent such situations and to ensure the safety of our diplomatic missions have been constantly raised before Iran,” it added. “Unfortunately, the last bloody terrorist attack demonstrates the serious consequences of not showing proper sensitivity to our urgent appeals in this direction.”

The ministry said: “The recent anti-Azerbaijani campaign against our country in Iran has encouraged such attacks against our diplomatic mission," adding: “We strongly demand that the perpetrators of the mentioned terrorist attack by Iran, as well as those who ordered this bloody act, be identified as soon as possible and punished in the most severe manner.”

It also said Azerbaijan “will use all the opportunities provided by the relevant international mechanisms to ensure that the culprits are identified and receive a relevant punishment.”

“It is planned to take appropriate measures in the direction of the evacuation of the embassy employees and family members in the situation that occurred as a result of the terrorist attack,” it added.

Meanwhile, Azerbaijan’s Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov also condemned the “treacherous terrorist attack.”

“We offer our condolences to the family and relatives of our deceased officer. The perpetrators of the terrorist attack and those who ordered it should be punished in the shortest possible time,” Bayramov added.