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Azeris Pressured by Iran to Cut Israel, West Ties
(Bloomberg) Zulfugar Agayev - "Iran is telling us to sever our relationships with Israel and the West," which is unacceptable to Azerbaijan, Ali Hasanov, head of the social and political department in the office of Azeri President Ilham Aliyev, said Monday in Baku. Azeris won't join Western-led efforts that target Iran, he said. "There are 30 million Azeris living in Iran." A possible "bombing of Iran would be like bombing of Azerbaijan." Iran's Shiite religion is shared by 2/3 of Azerbaijan's 9 million population. Iran is seeking to impose its version of Islam on Azerbaijan, Hasanov said, but "we have our own model" of Islam "and everybody knows it."