The Azeri Foreign Ministry spokesperson said on Friday its country will never be used as a military base for foreign countries.
Hekmat Hajiev referred to the rumors about the use of Azeri soil by Israeli spy drones and said, "We ensure the Iranian government that Azerbaijan will never be used as a military base for other countries."
He made the remarks in a meeting with an Iranian media delegation, the Fars news agency reported.
He added Baku felt concerned as it heard the rumors and considered it a plot hatched by opponents of good neighborly relations between Iran and Azerbaijan.
"The Azeri nation and government strongly oppose the use of their country's soil by a third country," he asserted.
He touched on the cordial relations between the two nations and governments and said, "We have issued various statements after hearing the rumors and denied all of them."
"Additionally, we have had good cooperation with Iranian forces in this relation."
Elsewhere, he praised Iran's military and defensive strength and said, "Iran as a powerful and highly alert state has the capacity to easily locate the spot where drones take off, thanks to its technological equipment."
"We will not allow any country to have a military base within our soil according to Azerbaijan's principled foreign policy," Hajiev said.
He added, "It is difficult for us to see some of the world's states assume our territory has been used against Iran."
Support for Palestinian State
He also referred to Azerbaijan's transparent stance toward the issue of Palestine and said, "Despite its good relations with Israel, Azerbaijan has its own position on the Middle East region and it supports Palestine."
He reiterated that the Azeri government supports the idea of a Palestinian state with al-Quds as its capital, adding Baku explicitly expressed it while chairing the UN Security Council.
Azerbaijan’s ambassador to the United States, Elin Suleymanov, said in a recent interview with the Algemeiner that Baku had made it clear that its territory would not be used by any entity, including Israel, for any military interference in neighboring countries.
Press TV on September 17 quoted unnamed sources as saying that the Israeli spy drone which was downed over Iran in August on its way to the Natanz enrichment facility in central Iran had taken off from an air base in Azerbaijan’s Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic.
