UAE Official Says Time To Manage Rivalry With Iran And Turkey

"The military forces of the region are able to ensure the security of the region and should not allow foreign armies to interfere or have a military presence there to secure their own interests. What is happening in northwestern Iran, in some neighboring countries, should be resolved with the logic of avoiding foreigners' presence," he said.

Khamenei also appeared to be referring to Turkey's alleged role in the current standoff between Iran and Azerbaijan when he warned that "the person who digs a well [to trap] for his brothers is the first one to fall into it". Iranian officials have so far avoided directly referring to Turkey and have mainly focused their attacks on the threat from Israel's involvement.

Last year when the war over Nagorno Karabakh took place between Azerbaijan and Armenia, Iranian officials and military commanders said that there were Israeli elements in the region and that Azerbaijan and Turkey had positioned Syrian jihadist militia in an area close to Iranian borders.

Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian also said in an interview with the state-run broadcaster (IRIB) Saturday evening that Iran will never tolerate the presence and activities of Israel near its borders and threatened to "take due measures accordingly".

"The Islamic Republic of Iran monitors this situation with sensitivity and determination while having a friendly attitude towards its neighbors, including the Republic of Azerbaijan," he said while accusing Baku of allowing "terrorists" and Israel to find a foothold and be active in Azerbaijan.

Amir-Abdollahian also stressed that Iran will not tolerate "geopolitical change" in the region and at the borders. Iranian authorities have said that a secret alliance is forming between the US, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Armenia and Israel which aims to alter the geopolitics in the region with strategic consequences against Iran and Russia. The concern has resulted from suspicions that Armenia and its premier, Nicol Pashinyan, are willing to accept the US and Turkish promises to allow Yerevan control of northern Karabakh in return for ceding Syunik province to Azerbaijan. This would entail undesirable consequences for both Iran and Russia.

Iran also appears worried about Israel's access to Azerbaijan's military basesand airspace from where it can target Iran's nuclear facilities. Tel Aviv has reportedly been in negotiation with Baku recently to finalize an arms deal worth $2b.

In a tweet in Hebrew Saturday, Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council Ali Shamkhani urged Azerbaijan to be "vigilant" regarding "foreign influence" in the region. Nour News − a well-placed website close to Shamkhani – on Sunday threatened military action if faced with an Israel threat from Azerbaijan's territory. "Iran considers it a right to act against terrorism and security threats, particularly the activities of the Zionist regime and will never tolerate any such threats," Nour News wrote, adding: "Just in the same way as the joint activities of anti-revolutionary [Kurdish] groups and Mossad in Erbil, Iraq, was responded to with missile and artillery attacks while unequivocally warning that such attacks would continue if anti-revolutionary and terrorist groups continued their mischief."

The Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev who angered Iranian military commanders and authorities with his recent criticism of Iran's military drills, on Saturday made some remarks which could be considered as conciliatory. In an interview with EFE, a Spanish news agency, Aliyev said his country supported a 3+3 regional cooperation format consisting of Russia, Iran, Turkey, Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan. "If we are able to manage to create this format of cooperation between six countries of the region, that will be the main guarantee against any kind of new hostility," he said.

Iran has held extensive military drills in the past three days involving armored and artillery units, drones and helicopters in its northwestern border area, which was criticized by Azerbaijan. Tehran insists that it has the right to hold military exercises within its borders and the drills were planned and were no threat to its neighbors. Mohammad Pakpour, commander of IRGC ground forces, said Wednesday "neighboring governments "know the reason for the drills better than anyone" and that Iran will not tolerate its neighbors "coming under the influence of third-party countries".

Mojtaba Yousefi member of the parliament’s presidium said that between 2018-2020 Iranians took $7 billion out of the country to buy property, while Turkey has become aggressive toward Iran. In recent days, there has been tensions between Iran and the Republic of Azerbaijan, supported by Turkey.

As US sanctions were imposed in 2018, many well-to-do Iranians tried to protect their capital by taking money out of the country and investing abroad. There is no clear overall figure but numbers between $40-60 billion have been mentioned.

By buying property in Turkey, Iranians hope to gain Turkish citizenship and be able to do business without being restricted by US sanctions that makes it hard for Iranians to even open bank accounts in other countries.

In the past three years, Turkish official figures show Iranians buying more than 3,000 residential unites every year, but purchases of other properties by registered companies is not available.

A pro-monarchy and anti-hijab activist, Sohelia Hejab passed out twice as she staged a sit-in in a corridor at Qarchak women’s prison, former hunger striker Arash Sadeghi tweeted Saturday evening.

Sadeghi wrote that Hejab, a 30-year-old law graduate who has been on hunger strike since September 19, was wearing a shroud to symbolize her readiness to die.

A member of the royalist group, Constitutional Party of Iran banned by the Islamic Republic, Hejab is protesting against the treatment of political prisoners. Hejab was sentenced to 18 years in July 2020 for "propaganda against the regime", "forming a women's rights group" and "calling for a referendum to change the Constitution", by notorious judge Mohammad Moghiseh. In May 2020 she was arrested again by Revolutionary Guards' Intelligence Organization and was taken to Qarchak Prison for women in the south of the capital to serve her sentence.

On Friday the United States-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) reported that Hejab's blood pressure had dropped, and that her stomach “would not even hold water.”

"Her family are seriously worried due to [her hunger strike] and her kidney problems," HRANA wrote. HRANA said prison authorities had on the orders of a judge refused to allow her to receive treatment in a hospital outside the prison.

In a voice message from prison in May 2020 Hejab accused Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) intelligence officers who arrested her of brutality. She said that she had been held by her hair, dragged along the ground, and kicked.

She also said her interrogators from IRGC intelligence at Qarchak threatened to have her killed by dangerous criminals in the jail. She has written a number of letters from prison in which she has defended her political beliefs and criticized the Iranian authorities including Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

Hejab was first arrested in Shiraz in January 2018 on charges of assembly, collusion and propaganda against the regime. After five months at Adel-Abad Prison of Shiraz, Hejab who hails from a Kurdish family from Kermanshah was pardoned and freed.She was violently arrested again in June 2019 by IRGC intelligence, taken to Evin prison, and later released on a large bail.

Qarchak prison, also called Shahr-e Rey prison, is a prison for women located in Varamin 30 km south east of Tehran. Other prisoners such as Sepideh Gholian (Qolian), who recently gave a detailed account of mistreatment of women in Bushehr jail in southern Iran, rights activist Nasrin Sotoudeh, and Australian-British academic Kylie-Moore-Gilbert have described conditions at Qarchak as worse than Evin prison where political prisoners are often held.

Ali Shamkhani wrote on Saturday, “Iran in its power and greatness has always been the well-wisher of its neighbors and has never posed a threat to them.”

In recent days tensions have spiked between the two largely Shiite countries as Azerbaijan held military drills with Turkey and Pakistan and detained Iranian truck drivers crossing into Armenian territories near Nagorno Karabakh.

Iran’s military launched its own drills on Friday, massing large numbers of troops and military hardware at its northwestern border. Iranian politicians have been making anti-Baku statements and warning President Ilham Aliyev “not to play with the lion’s tail”.

Shamkhani further said, “Problems will be solved with cooperation and sympathy among regional countries. Any influence by outsiders will bear no fruit except mischief and discord. We call on neighbors to be prudent and keep their distance from them.”

Iran has been accusing Azerbaijan of allowing Israel to establish a presence on its territory.

Iranian emergency services ordered many villages to be evacuated in the Sistan-Baluchistan province where two fishing boats anchored near the coast sank as high winds and turbulent seas battered the region.

Oman’s Meteorology service announced that the tropical storm is developing into a tropical cyclone as it nears the region.

Iran’s Chabahar port, a major transit point for good, as well offices and schools were closed on Saturday, the first weekday in the country. Dust storms raised by the storm have blanketed Sistan-Baluchistan and dozens of people visited hospitals to seek medical care.

Iranian meteorologists have forecast winds of more than 110 kilometers and rains dumping 300 millimeters (12 inch) of water in the region.