BAKU (Reuters) – Azerbaijan on Wednesday appointed its first ambassador to Israel amid rising tensions with Iran, its big southern neighbor.
President Ilham Aliyev signed a presidential decree appointing Mukhtar Mammadov, a veteran official who has held positions in foreign and education ministries, as Baku’s first ambassador to Israel after 30 years of bilateral relations.
Israel has had an embassy in Baku since the early 1990s and has been a major military supporter of Azerbaijan in recent years, including its diplomatic support for Baku in its dispute with Armenia over the Nagorno-Karabakh region.
Azerbaijan also supplies about 40 percent of Israel’s oil imports, and both Aliyev and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have praised the strength of their countries’ relations.
Amid escalating tension between Azerbaijan and Iran over Baku’s close relations with Israel, Azerbaijan’s parliament enacted a law in November that paves the way for the state to open its first embassy in Israel.
Last year, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian accused Israel of establishing a military presence and secret alliance with Azerbaijan.
Baku has denied these allegations, but Iran staged large-scale military exercises along its border with Azerbaijan, and Aliyev responded by taking pictures of them with Israeli-made suicide drones manufactured in Azerbaijan.
Azerbaijan’s embassy will be in Tel Aviv, where most of the diplomatic missions are located.
