Azernews.Az

BAKU – Iran has claimed Sunday’s shooting on the border with Azerbaijan in which a frontier guard was killed had been caused by the Azerbaijani side.

According to Azerbaijan’s State Border Service, armed trespassers had illegally crossed the border near a village of Azerbaijan’s Yardimli region, clashing with frontier guards. Lieut. Rufat Guliyev, head of the frontier guards detachment, was killed in the shooting. The violators escaped back to Iran.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast told the press that tensions allegedly mounted after several Azerbaijani frontier guards crossed into the neighboring country’s territory.

"In such cases, officials of both countries should scrutinize the matter and try to solve the problem," Mehmanparast said.

The ministry spokesman said that since the two countries are neighbors, at times tension rises on their shared border. But he added: "Rare borderline incidents should not affect relations between Iran and Azerbaijan."

Azerbaijani analyst Arastun Orujlu said divergent statements made by Azerbaijani and Iranian officials indicate tension in bilateral relations.

"If the Iranian side issues a statement on the level of its foreign ministry, this should be considered a borderline incident. And this is not a good sign for two neighboring states, particularly if a killing has occurred," Orujlu said.