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Azerbaijan Defies Iran

(Wall Street Journal) Dr. Michael Doran - In recent weeks, Tehran has engaged in a crude campaign of intimidation of Azerbaijan that included military exercises near the border. Iranian officials are demanding that Azerbaijan end its alliance with Israel, which aided Azerbaijan during its 2020 war with Armenia. Ethnic Azerbaijanis, a Shiite Turkic people, comprise 20-30% of Iran's population. When members of the Azerbaijani minority in Iran learned that Iran was helping Russia to resupply the Armenian army during the war, they sabotaged transport vehicles and launched public protests. In 2012, when the Obama administration was courting Iran, senior American officials briefed the press on military cooperation between Azerbaijan and Israel with the clear intention of scuttling it. Although Washington is currently doing nothing to impede cooperation between Baku and Jerusalem, its posture in the face of Iranian aggression has created an environment that invites acts of intimidation. The Biden administration would be better served by following Israel's example. The U.S. must find a way to deter nasty international actors while simultaneously respecting an electorate that is wary of military interventions. The best way is to forge productive understandings with countries that wield capable militaries - and who aren't afraid to use them. The writer, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute in Washington, served in the departments of State and Defense, and on the U.S. National Security Council.
2021-10-14 00:00:00
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