TEHRAN IS DRIVING ITSELF INTO A TIGHT CORNER

In February, tensions in relations between the West and Iran continued to grow. Despite earlier brave statements by Tehran, tough sanctions imposed by the West disrupted Iran's food imports and led to shortages and a hike in food prices in the country. The price of rice, the basis of the Iranian diet, for example, more than doubled in a few weeks. And the price of meat increased threefold.

A certain crisis was also observed in the political elite of Iran. In February, members of the Iranian parliament summoned President Mahmud Ahmadinejad to explain a number of his domestic and foreign policy decisions. A petition was signed by 150 of the 290 Iranian lawmakers. The members of parliament demand that the president justify his decisions in the economic sphere, in particular, his refusal to approve special expenses on public transportation in Tehran, as well as several other decisions relating to domestic and foreign policy. This is the first time in Iran's modern history that the parliament has obliged the president to appear at hearings and answer questions from MPs. Earlier, Ahmadinejad and his supporters were accused of embezzlement, corruption and even connections with "unknown worlds". Such a decision by MPs caused mixed reactions in several circles. In their view, given the political situation in the country, as well as the time when Iran is eyed by foreign enemies, summoning the president to the parliament for an explanation is not in the interests of the Iranian people and is the wrong step, which could provoke a split between the government and the legislature. Therefore, some influential religious organizations, condemning the actions of the deputies who signed the appeal to summon the president to testify, removed their names from the list of candidates for the parliamentary elections held this month.

It should also be recalled that the political struggle between President Mahmud Ahmadinejad and supreme leader Ayatollah Khamene'i intensified in Iran in recent years. It is noteworthy that in May last year, one of the representatives of Iranian clerics, the Muslim spiritual leader M. Nubian, accused the Iranian president of friendly feelings towards Israel. According to him, the chief adviser and close relative of the Iranian president, Esfandiyar Rahim-Masha'i, said three years ago that Iran should develop "friendly relations" with the Jewish state. Nubian also claims that the Iranian president personally told him that he supports Masha'i's statement, but could not say anything openly supposedly out of respect for the leader of the Islamic Republic.

Meanwhile, attempts by the US and the EU, which intended to force Tehran to abandon the programme to develop nuclear weapons by tightening sanctions, have not been successful. The Iranian authorities announced on 15 February that they began loading nuclear fuel into the Tehran Research Reactor. A regular visit by the IAEA delegation that visited Iran on 21-22 February ended in failure. IAEA Director Yukiya Amano expressed disappointment that the observers were denied access to the Parchin military facility near the Iranian capital: "It is disappointing that Iran refused to fulfill our request and to allow the observers to Parchin. Despite the constructive nature of our efforts, no agreement was reached."

It is interesting that ahead of the IAEA delegation's visit to Iran, the Alef analytical website published an article which sets out the views of Iran's supreme leader. Khamene'i once again called Israel a "cancerous tumour" and declared that if the strike is not carried out in the near future, "the opportunity will be lost in the future". According to his calculations, Tehran's missile capability makes it possible to destroy Israel in 9 minutes, while Tel Aviv is not able to strike at Iran without the support of the US administration. Ayatollah Khamene'i even indicates the time of such a strike - 2014. No wonder that such statements raise serious concerns in Tel Aviv, which insists on a pre-emptive missile strike on Iran, which is opposed by Washington. But Israel is trying to convince the White House that the actions of the theocratic regime threaten the security of the United States. According to Israel's Minister of Finance Yuval Steinitz, Tehran is now engaged in the development of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) and is investing billions of dollars in them. As a result, after 2-3 years, Iran will get its first ICBM able to reach the US East Coast, and they will be a nuclear threat to Europe and America. The major cause of the deterioration of the situation around Iran is a series of terrorist acts against Israeli diplomatic missions in different parts of the world - in India, Georgia and Thailand. Israel blamed these attacks on Iran and promised not to leave them unanswered. Tehran, in turn, called the accusations "false", denying any involvement in them.

It would seem that against the backdrop of all that is happening, Iran's theocratic regime should be more selective in relations even with its closest neighbours. Unfortunately, in this regard, Tehran's foreign policy is also inappropriate. And, oddly enough, all the negative actions of Tehran are aimed precisely at countries that respect Iran's sovereignty and right to a peaceful nuclear programme, i.e. Azerbaijan and Turkey. Tehran constantly and unreasonably accuses Baku of close cooperation with Tel Aviv, demanding (?!) that it adhere to the opposite position in this matter, which is unacceptable from the standpoint of international law. In order to foment relations between Baku and Tel Aviv, agents of the Iranian intelligence service and Hezbollah among local Islamists made numerous attempts to capture and eliminate staff members of the Israeli embassy and Jewish organizations in Baku. Only thanks to the efficient work of Azerbaijani security officials, were these attempts promptly foiled each time. In January, the Azerbaijani National Security Ministry (NSM) prevented a terrorist attack against Israeli diplomats and foreign public figures in Baku. Tehran immediately denied its involvement in this. On 17 February, the reporter A. Bayramli, who worked for the Iranian Sahar TV channel and Fars news agency (during the search 0.387 grams of heroin were found in his possession) and the driver of the Sahar TV bureau, R. Dadasov, were arrested in Baku and Sumqayit. Both detainees are citizens of Azerbaijan. And the employee of the Iranian TV channel has no accreditation from the Foreign Ministry of Azerbaijan. Of course, this situation could not please Tehran, which, as expected, handed the Azerbaijani ambassador to Iran, Cavansir Axundov, two notes within 10 days.

The reason for the first note was an interview with some Israeli agent Shimon, published in The London Times. According to Shimon, Israel increased its intelligence presence in Azerbaijan in 2011 and effectively works on the Azerbaijani-Iranian border. The banal newspaper "canard" was sufficient for Tehran to accuse the Azerbaijani authorities of cooperating with Israeli security forces and to declare that the assassins of the Iranian nuclear physicist Mostafa Ahmadi-Rowshan fled to Israel through the territory of Azerbaijan, using assistance from the authorities of this country. And the Iranian news agency Fars, which is controlled by the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), reported that the Azerbaijani government allegedly gave asylum to a Mossad agent, a Jew by the name of Javidan, who took part in the elimination of several Iranian nuclear scientists, in particular Mas'ud Ali-Mohammadi and Mostafa Ahmadi

Rowshan. It is strange that Iran, which has one of the most powerful intelligence agencies in the world, did not bother to check the validity of the statements contained in the interview and immediately rushed to accuse Azerbaijan of all mortal sins. If everyone based such serious allegations on crazy claims, the system of international relations would really collapse. And how logical is the fact that an agent of the powerful Israeli intelligence service gave away the secrets of Mossad to The London Times for no apparent reason?

The second Iranian note was connected with the arrest of A. Bayramli and R. Dadasov. Tehran demanded (?!) that the Azerbaijani authorities release these persons, which is gross interference in the internal affairs of Azerbaijan. Since these people are citizens of Azerbaijan, they have to answer according to the laws of their country. Their illegal acts are not evaluated by notes from any countries.

Azerbaijan's Foreign Ministry has already responded to the Iranian notes, saying that Tehran's accusations are absurd, unfounded and farfetched. Azerbaijan will never allow terrorism on its territory. Iran's attempts to interfere in internal affairs are of no benefit to bilateral relations. Azerbaijan always takes an objective stance towards Iran. The leadership of Azerbaijan, conducting a balanced policy, is building friendly relations with its neighbours, including Iran. But, unfortunately, Tehran's policy in relation to the neighbouring country cannot be regarded as adequate. Moreover, some Iranian officials have repeatedly expressed friendly feelings towards Azerbaijan in their statements and called on their countrymen for reason. In particular, during his visit to Kazakhstan in October 2010, Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani stated that Iran and Azerbaijan have excellent friendly relations. These countries share a common history and a high level of relations based on spiritual commonalities. And when in August last year, the chief of staff of the Iranian Armed Forces, Hasan Firuzabadi, made inappropriate statements and threats against Azerbaijan, the same Ali Larijani said that officials should be more careful when making political statements and should not damage relations with neighbouring countries with meaningless remarks.

With regard to the recent events, Iranian Defence Minister Brigadier General Ahmad Vahidi also expressed his concern, but unfortunately, he placed an emphasis on the wrong issue. Noting that some countries do not want Iran to have good relations with its neighbours and are trying to undermine them, he urged Azerbaijani officials to foil the "cunning tricks of some groups trying to undermine the friendly relations between Iran and Azerbaijan". The question arises - what do the cunning tricks of some groups and Azerbaijani officials have to do with it, if representatives of the Iranian political establishment keep trying to damage relations between Azerbaijan and Iran. The Iranian ambassador to Russia, Mahmud Reza Sajjadi, particularly excels in this field. During just one week, he made two statements, which cannot be called friendly with regard to Azerbaijan even with a great desire. Asked "whether Iran intends to recognize the Xocali genocide since Pakistan and Mexico have already made a similar move", the Iranian "diplomat" replied, singing praises for the Armenians, that he had heard about it for the first time: "I have no information about the Xocali genocide. So I cannot answer your question." Such a blasphemous response is a direct insult to the memory of victims of the Xocali genocide, the 20th anniversary of which was recently marked by the entire civilized world. A no less blasphemous event is a three-day concert of Armenian singers, which was held in Tabriz (?I) literally ahead of the 20th anniversary of the Xocali genocide. Iran's ambassador to Armenia, Seyyed Ali Saqayan, said that Iran is a strong and powerful country and will not allow any changes to take place in the region, particularly in its hot spots. To put it simply, the Iranian ambassador makes it clear that Tehran is more than satisfied with the status quo in the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict as a result of the occupation of Azerbaijani lands. In principle, it is not surprising against the background of more than friendly relations between Iran and the aggressor Armenia.

All this gives rise to doubt about the sincerity of Tehran's claims about good neighbourly relations and "Islamic solidarity" with respect to Azerbaijan. After all, the victims of the Xocali genocide and Azerbaijani captives, including women, are also Muslims. Why is it that the destruction of mosques and Islamic monuments by Armenian vandals in Armenia and in the occupied Azerbaijani lands does not cause the same negative reaction from Tehran, as does the capture of persons (citizens of Azerbaijan) suspected of criminal acts? It turns out that it is this inappropriate and indiscriminate foreign policy in all directions which is the main cause of Iran's international isolation.