Azernews.Az

Iran’s claims that Azerbaijan allows its territory to be used for anti-Iranian activity are "absurd", Israeli Ambassador in Baku Michael Lavon-Lotem has said in an interview with the local ANS TV channel.

In a protest note, submitted to the Azerbaijani ambassador in Tehran last Sunday, Tehran claimed Azerbaijan turned a blind eye to free travel of terrorists implicated in the recent killing of Iranian nuclear scientists to and out of the country, and urged Baku to stop the alleged anti-Iranian activities. The Iranian government also said Azerbaijani media are pursuing an anti-Iranian campaign.

Iran’s protest was prompted by a London Times story alleging that Azerbaijan is full of Mossad agents collecting intelligence data about Iran. The report quoted an alleged Azerbaijan-based agent who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Baku was quick to deliver a terse response to the allegations. Ali Hasanov, a Presidential Administration official, said Iran’s statement is absolutely baseless, adding that Azerbaijan "has no ties with any terror group responsible for acts against humanity". The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry labeled the content of the Iranian protest note as "lies and slander". Spokesman Elman Abdullayev said the ministry deems this as Tehran’s response to Baku’s recent protest, which came after Azerbaijani law enforcers nabbed a cell linked to the Iranian secret service that planned terror attacks reportedly targeting Israeli public figures in Baku.

Lavon-Lotem praised Baku’s all-sided response to Tehran’s allegations.

"I think that even I could not respond to [Iran’s] protest note more comprehensively than your officials did," the ambassador said.

"As for the article referenced by this document, I can only say that attention should mostly be paid not to the article itself, but to who used this article and how. Then it would come out how unfounded these claims are."