Tel Aviv: Armenia is the new customer for Iranian armed drones and may soon make appearance in future armed clash between Armenia-Azerbaijan.
Israeli sources told Raksha Anirveda that this development will put Israeli made anti drone systems in a high place in the Azeri shopping list that includes many Israeli systems.
In a report written by Alexander Grinberg, an expert on Iran that was published in the website of the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security, he reveals that Armenia has already purchased some Iranian-made drones and targeted them with Azeri positions. That is further evidence that Iran works to escalate tensions between Armenia and Azerbaijan through its “drone diplomacy.”
Armenia and Azerbaijan have been fighting for years on the disputed Nagorno Karabach region.
The expert writes that Armenia was seeking to purchase Iranian drones already in 2022. Iranian officials also confirmed Armenia’s desire to purchase UAVs from Iran. Despite both Iranian and Armenian denials, Azeri, Turkish, and even Iranian informal media have reported the Armenian armed forces’ usage of an Iranian drone against Azeri forces. The Zangezur corridor, which is supposed to pass along Armenia’s and Iran’s border, bears enormous importance for both Iran and Azerbaijan, although it is situated on Armenian soil.
“If Baku accomplishes its control over that territory, it will connect Azerbaijan to Turkey and then to Europe. The potential realisation of the Zangezur corridor, which could link Azerbaijan’s western provinces with the Azeri Nakhchivan enclave along the Turkish border, is very significant in economic and geopolitical terms. As Iran rejects this Azeri project, it forces Armenia to engage in more skirmishes over the Zangezur corridor. Iran opened its new consulate in the Armenian city of Kapan, close to the Syunik and the Zangezur corridor.”
The expert writes that in the meantime, Iranian media are whipping up war hysteria against Azerbaijan. Some openly maintain that the Iranian consulate in Kapan is insufficient to protect Iran’s interests. Others argue that Iran needs to beef up its military presence in Armenia.
“Some Iranian politicians spoke out for establishing an Iranian military base in Armenia because Armenia is interested in such a base and to counter the Baku regime and its Zionist allies. Prof Sayed Hassan Amin proposed in 2021 that Iran, as the Islamic Republic, should develop a military presence in Armenia and the South Caucasus, as it has in Iraq and Syria. Naturally, Iran cannot carry out these plans without Armenia’s consent.”
Azerbaijan has in recent years purchased some Israeli developed weapon systems including loitering weapon systems to answer specific operational requirements. These systems were used extensively during the Nagorno-Karabakh war in 2020 between Azerbaijan and Armenia.
-The writer is an Israel-based freelance journalist. The views expressed are of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the views of Raksha Anirveda
