Azerbaijan evacuating its diplomats from Iran

Azerbaijan is evacuating its diplomats from Iran for their own safety, Foreign Minister ​Jeyhun Bayramov said on Friday, a day ‌after Baku said four Iranian drones had crossed its border and injured four people in the Nakhchivan exclave, Reuters reported.

Speaking at ​a news conference in Baku, Bayramov ​said that Azerbaijan was evacuating employees from its ⁠embassy in Tehran and its consulate general in ​Tabriz, the largest city in Iran’s northwest, where many ​ethnic Azerbaijanis live.

“On the orders of President Ilham Aliyev, instructions have been given to evacuate our embassy in ​Tehran and the consulate general in Tabriz ​from Iran, and these instructions are already being implemented. ‌We ⁠cannot put the lives of our people at risk,” he said.

Azerbaijan reacted angrily on Thursday to what it said was an incursion ​by Iranian ​drones into ⁠its Nakhchivan exclave, with President Aliyev threatening retaliation. Iran said it had ​not launched the drones.