Cohen is currently expanding Israel’s relations with countries in central Asia, with one of those countries Azerbaijan, a Shiite Muslim country, bordering Iran.
Cohen announced during the opening of the Azerbaijan embassy in Tel Aviv on March 29 that he would travel to the capital Baku within a month for talks with the government of Azerbaijan.
That visit took place on Tuesday, April 18, and was mainly about “strategic challenges” that Azerbaijan and Israel have in common.
Cohen said after his meeting with President Ilham Aliyev that the conversation mainly focused on “the fight against terrorism” and on expanding “cooperation” between Israel and Azerbaijan.
Cohen led a thirty-person delegation from Israel and discussed possible contracts in the fields of security, defense, cyber security and innovations in Azerbaijan’s agriculture. The trade volume between Israel and Azerbaijan currently stands at more than $230 million, but this amount is expected to double in the coming years.
As mentioned, however, Cohen’s main focus was on strengthening defense and intelligence cooperation with the government in Baku.
At the end of his visit to Azerbaijan, Cohen said: “Israel and Azerbaijan share the same perception of the Iranian threat. The Ayatollah regime threatens both of our regions, financing terrorism and destabilizing the entire Middle East. We must take action together to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear capabilities.”
According to various media reports, Israel is operating from Azerbaijan’s territory through its spy agency Mossad, while Iran has repeatedly accused its neighbor of facilitating Mossad actions against its nuclear program.
For example, the Iran nuclear archive that Mossad agents stole from a warehouse in a suburb of Tehran in January 2018 was smuggled to Baku by Mossad in two trucks.
The archive was then flown to Israel from an airport in Azerbaijan.
Mossad, reportedly, also launched unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) attacks against nuclear facilities in Iran from Azerbaijan.
Cohen’s visit to Baku came amid steadily growing tension between Iran and Azerbaijan.
In early April Azerbaijan expelled four Iranian diplomats suspected of terrorist activities and espionage.
It was the latest incident in a long series of incidents between the two countries, and a war between the two neighbors can no longer be ruled out.
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