Iran has used operatives in assassination attempts on Israeli and American diplomats in seven countries over a period of 13 months, the Washington Post reported.
Last November, the U.S. Embassy in Azerbaijan received a message that then Ambassador Matthew Bryza was the target of a plot to kill Americans, along with other embassy officials.
U.S. and Azerbaijani intelligence agencies increased their investigations, which revealed a two-pronged plot, one involving snipers with silencer-equipped rifles and the other a car bomb, intended to kill embassy employees and their families.
Azerbaijani authorities picked up 22 suspects early this year. It is still not known for certain who was behind the plots, but U.S. and Middle Eastern experts see them as part of a campaign by Iran to kill foreign diplomats.
The targets included Saudi, Israeli and American officials.
JTA noted that Israel Aerospace Industries, a state-run company, signed a $1.6 billion deal in February to sell sophisticated military technology to Azerbaijan.
Also in March, Azerbaijan officials denied a claim in Foreign Policy Magazine that Israel was granted access to several airbases in the Caucasus nation, located on Iran’s northern border.
