Azerbaijan’s Nakhchivan International Airport has been struck by drones injuring two, with the government accusing Iran of carrying out the attack.
In a statement following the strike, Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry said they ‘strongly condemn these drone strikes from the Islamic Republic of Iran, which resulted in damage to the airport building and the injury of two civilians.’
The ministry stated that one drone crashed into the terminal building of the airport, while another crashed near a school in the village of Shekarabad.
The ministry said they had summoned Iran’s ambassador to Azerbaijan, and demanded an explanation for the incident.
‘The Azerbaijani side reserves the right to take appropriate retaliatory measures’, the statement read.
Azerbaijan’s Defence Ministry later issued a statement insisting that ‘these attacks will not go unanswered’, and stating that it was ‘preparing the necessary response measures to protect the territorial integrity and sovereignty’ of Azerbaijan.
In an interview with Azerbaijani pro-government news site AnewZ minutes after the attack, Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi denied that Iran was targeting ‘neighbouring countries’.
‘This incident, I have heard about it from you, I should investigate […] the source of this information and the nature of this information and I can comment later on’, said Gharibabadi.
Gharibabadi added that targeting neighbouring countries was not ‘the policy of Iran […] unless the military bases of our adversaries, namely the Zionist regime and the United States of America, are active there and are used to attack innocent people in the Islamic Republic of Iran’.
The strike took place less than 10 kilometres from the Iranian border in the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic, an Azerbaijani exclave, at around noon on Thursday.
The pro-government media outlet APA was the first to report on the strikes, writing that ‘several more drones fell in other places’. They did not provide any additional details. APA’s article was accompanied with the tagline: ‘the treacherous mullah regime shows its true face’.
Footage apparently from the scene shows plumes of black smoke rising from the airport. Additional footage shows a small blast across from the airport, with several fire engines parked at the airport.
APA later published additional footage from inside the airport, showing that the building’s ceiling was damaged. People were also seen fleeing the scene.
The strikes mark the first time that Azerbaijan or any other nation in the South Caucasus has been drawn into the US–Israel war with Iran, now in its sixth day.
Despite having a rocky relationship, Azerbaijan and Iran had in recent years reached a fragile rapprochement. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev was one of the few world leaders to express condolences to Iran over the death of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Aliyev said he was ‘deeply saddened by the tragic death’, and expressed ‘deep condolences’ to the Iranian people over the ‘heavy loss’.
Iran has previously accused Azerbaijan of allowing hostile forces to use the country as a staging ground, including during the June 2025 US-Israeli bombing campaign. Azerbaijan and Israel enjoy close relations.
However, during a phone call with his Iranian counterpart Abbas Aragchi on Saturday, Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov insisted that it was ‘impossible for any country to use the territory of Azerbaijan against neighbouring and friendly Iran’. Bayramov also ‘expressed condolences due to the killing Khamenei and innocent people because of the airstrikes’.
Earlier this week, NATO forces shot down a missile fired from Iran towards Turkey — a NATO member and Azerbaijan’s closest ally. Iran denied firing missiles towards Turkey, insisting that it respects the country’s sovereignty and had intended to hit Cyprus.
Arshaluys Barseghyan
