Azernews.Az

Azerbaijan has reportedly agreed with Israel to purchase drones and anti-aircraft and missile defense systems worth $1.6 billion, in a deal confirmed by Israel’s officials.

According to The Jerusalem Post, under the biggest arms deal Israel has reached with former Soviet republics, the arms will be supplied to Azerbaijan by the state-run Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI). The timing of deliveries is not reported.

Israeli specialists are expected to visit Azerbaijan to train their counterparts to use the cutting edge weapons.

An Israeli defense ministry source that spoke on condition of anonymity, speaking of the agreement, which will bring sophisticated Israeli technology to the doorstep of archenemy Iran, said talks about the deal had long been underway. But the agreement should not be deemed as a response to Iran’s nuclear activities, it said.

Danny Yatom, a former head of Israel's Mossad spy agency, said the timing of the deal was likely coincidental. "Such a deal ... takes a long period of time to become ripe," he told The Associated Press.

He said Israel would continue to sell arms to its friends. "If it will help us in challenging Iran, it is for the better," he said.

Earlier, in April 2011, IAI reportedly offered to sell Azerbaijan 60 Heron 1 and Searcher 2 intelligence drones. According to Flightglobal.com, a leading news website for the aviation and aerospace industries, in addition to military objectives, Azerbaijan could use them to monitor oil and gas pipelines.

In March 2011 a joint venture of Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry and Israel's Aeronautics Defense Systems reportedly launched production of Orbiter unmanned aerial vehicles and Aerostar tactical UAVs. The reports also said licensed production of drones in Azerbaijan may be expanded in the future.

A number of media outlets have linked Azerbaijan’s purchase of Israeli drones to Iran’s claims that Azerbaijan allowed free travel of terrorists implicated in the killing of Iranian nuclear scientists in January and caused overall deterioration of relations between the two neighbors.

Iran's Foreign Ministry accused Baku earlier this month of allowing Mossad agents to operate in Azerbaijan, which shares a border with Iran more than 600 kilometers long.

Azerbaijan has strongly dismissed the allegations and also accused Iran of sponsoring Islamic radicals on its soil.

Azerbaijani law enforcers in mid-January nabbed a cell linked to the Iranian secret service that planned terror attacks reportedly targeting Israelis.