Ilham Aliyev announces condition for normalization of contacts with Iran

Baku and Tehran will be able to normalize their relations, but after the Iranian leadership punishes the people involved in the attack on the Azerbaijani embassy in Iran, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said.

"It was an organized terrorist attack against the Azerbaijani diplomatic mission. The terrorist was not disarmed for 30-40 minutes, the police and the security service came and left, but he was allowed to enter the embassy building twice, kill one of the guards and injure two others", he said in an interview with journalists.

The Head of state stressed that the heroic act made by the security guard, who disarmed the attacker on the diplomatic mission building, saved the lives of dozens of embassy employees and members of their families who lived in that house.

The President of Azerbaijan further demanded a transparent investigation into the attack. According to him, representatives of the Iranian ruling circles may be behind the attack, since, as he noted, interviews of the shooter with Iranian media suggest this idea. Aliyev also considered the decision to recognize the criminal "mentally retarded" strange, adding that this helped him to avoid punishment.

"The Iranian government should conduct a transparent investigation, we must be informed about this, and the terrorist must be punished". Most importantly, those who sent the terrorist, the representatives of the Iranian establishment who committed this cruel act against Azerbaijan, must be brought to justice. Only after that it will be possible to talk about any normalization of relations with Tehran", Ilham Aliyev concluded.