In recent days, Iran’s search for global domination is increasingly apparent.
Following the recent Israeli attack on the Iranian Consulate in Damascus, which eliminated senior members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the mullahs in Tehran are going after the Hashemite regime in Jordan, seeking to have its government toppled and replaced with a pro-Hamas leadership.
There are reports that Iranian weapons are flooding into the West Bank, which Iran hopes will unite with a new Hamas-led government in Jordan and overthrow the entire PLO-led Palestinian Authority (PA), creating a united Hamas front against Israel.
According to a recent MEMRI report, Iran seeks to topple the Hashemites and ultimately also the PA so that they can attack Israel from the east as the Jewish state remains occupied dealing with Iranian proxies in Syria, Lebanon, and Gaza: “The political aim of this plan is to thwart the Saudi-American project of normalization with Israel.”
Peace in the Middle East?
This would lead to Saudi Arabia never making peace with Israel alongside a number of other moderate Sunni Arab countries. It also includes efforts by Iran to make amends with Azerbaijan, while weakening the Sisi government in Egypt, another ally of Israel in the region.
The MEMRI report noted: “The regime in Iran has never concealed its aim and aspirations: to have the Iranian Islamic Revolution take over the region, to bring down the West-facing moderate Arab Sunni regimes by exporting the revolution and to eliminate Israel, the ‘Little Satan’ and the cancerous growth, and to liberate Jerusalem from it.
To achieve this, the Iranian regime uses its array of resistance axis militias from Yemen to Lebanon and from Iraq to Azerbaijan, as an effective military arm for establishing its messianic vision.”
Last March, the foreign ministers of Iran and Azerbaijan met at the Organization of Islamic Conference, where they agreed on the reopening of the Azerbaijani Embassy in Tehran after an Iranian court sentenced the terrorist who attacked the Azerbaijani Embassy on International Holocaust Memorial Day, killing a security guard, to death.
Why would Iran agree to execute this person in order to restore ties with Azerbaijan, given that there is a great chance that Iran orchestrated this terror attack?
The answer to this question is that the Iranians are greatly disturbed that Armenia is getting closer to the US and France after the Armenians decided it was in their best interest to distance themselves from the Putin government, under heavy international sanctions for its war in Ukraine.
Examples of this include Armenia’s intention to apply for membership in the European Union – the access process would require Armenia to scrap its visa-free regime with Iran and re-orient all of its foreign policy in the direction that Brussels requires.
The Iranians, greatly disturbed by Armenia’s rapprochement with the West, have told the Armenians not to cozy up to “extra-regional parties.”
Due to Armenia’s increased ties with the US and France, as well as their stated intention to join the European Union, the Iranians are now trying to patch up their relationship with Baku, Armenia’s main foe, who despite being an ally of NATO will likely never be a member of the European Union.
This led to the signing of an agreement to construct the Aras Corridor, connecting the Azerbaijani Nachshivan Province to mainland Azerbaijan via Iranian territory.
Azerbaijan had earlier sought to build the Zangezur Corridor, which would do the same thing via Armenian territory, but the Iranians had opposed it, as it would block Iranian-Armenian trade. Nevertheless, the Iranians seek to compensate the Azerbaijanis with the Aras Corridor, as they know it is very important for them that Nachshivan Province be connected to the rest of their country.
Although it is highly doubtful that this move will cause the Azerbaijanis to abandon their close friendship with Israel, the Iranians are hopeful that, at the very least, they can placate the Azerbaijanis enough so that they won’t be a hostile front as Iran prepares for a regional war against the Jewish state.
After all, 40% of Iranians are of Azerbaijani origin and are known for protesting against the regime in recent years. They are furious that they have been deprived of the right to study in their mother tongue and to give their children Turkic names.
They wish to secede from Iran and create an independent South Azerbaijan.
The last thing that Iran wants is to deal with massive anti-regime protests by Azerbaijanis in Iran and hostile actions by the state of Azerbaijan, while Tehran fights against the Jewish state on all fronts.
Indeed, the Iranians always see Azerbaijan as their weak link, a neighboring country that Israeli intelligence can utilize to smuggle nuclear documents out of Iran.
With so many fronts, the Iranians cannot afford another, so they are trying to pick their battles, even though they despise the government in Baku with great passion, as they are secular Shi’ites who are among Israel’s best friends.
For this reason, the Iranians seek to make amends with Azerbaijan, but whether the Azerbaijanis will fall for their charade is another question.
Thus, even though they may agree to build the Aras Corridor and reopen their embassy in Tehran, they will always remain wary of a country that attacked not only their embassy in Tehran but also their embassy in London, as well as threatening the Israeli Embassy in Baku.
The Azerbaijanis will never let down their guard, they too were part of the Safavid Empire and can play chess every bit as well as the Iranian mullahs.
The writer is a prominent Middle East scholar and commentator.
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