It is no secret that the Islamic Republic of Iran has been planning for years how to eliminate the State of Israel through various means. Furthermore, every child knows that there is intense tension between Iran and Azerbaijan. What is “remarkable” about Iran is its ability to understand how to strike its enemies in their vulnerable spots efficiently and simply. For example, the bombing of the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires, Argentina, was a Hezbollah attack on behalf of Iran, using only a car bomb, without special operations, without complications, and much noise—just a vehicle, a suicide bomber, and a large amount of explosives.
Recently, we witnessed another attempt by Iran to hit two birds with one stone by orchestrating the assassination of a senior figure in the Jewish community in Azerbaijan. In one operation, Iran aimed to target both the Jewish people and the Azerbaijani people, in a way that was not complicated at all. The State Security Service of Azerbaijan recently revealed an Iranian plot that was thwarted by the agency: Iran recruited a Georgian citizen living in Azerbaijan and an Azerbaijani citizen for the mission of assassinating a leader of the Jewish community in Azerbaijan.
The two assassins recruited by Iran are involved in drug trafficking and smuggling drugs into Azerbaijan. This is not the first time that Iran and its proxies have worked with drug traffickers for their “holy” goals. Before the fall of Bashar al-Assad, the former president of Syria, he used to earn most of his wealth for himself, and for the Alawite regime he headed through the trade of Captagon pills. Captagon is described as a drug that has effects similar to cocaine but is also used to dull the mind during terrorist operations and induce a sense of madness that motivates the attackers.
What is ironic in this whole story is that for devout Muslims, the use of alcohol and drugs is strictly forbidden, an injunction rooted in the Quran, regardless of whether the Muslim is Sunni or Shia. They are forbidden from consuming mind-altering substances. Moreover, Islam prohibits sitting at a table where non-Muslims drink wine, so what would an imam think about making a living from drugs? It is absurd that both Hezbollah, which is considered a religious Shia organization, and the Islamic Republic of Iran, which turned Iran into an ultra-religious state after the Islamic Revolution, are profiting from something that is forbidden for them. Perhaps that is why it no longer matters to the Iranians to work with other drug traffickers. It seems that Tehran has lost its values and now only has malicious plans left.
The State Security Service of Azerbaijan arrested the two suspects, Georgian citizen Agil Aslanov, a resident of Azerbaijan, and Azerbaijani citizen Ceyhun Ismailov. According to the official statement from the SSS, Aslanov, who has a history of drug smuggling, traveled to another country, which was not named, last September, where he met with members of an intelligence agency who were likely members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards.
During this meeting, the Iranians showed Aslanov pictures of the Jewish Azerbaijani target and offered him a total payment of $200,000 for carrying out the assassination, along with an initial payment of $2,000. The Iranians instructed Aslanov to track the target, a senior member of the Jewish community in Azerbaijan, and gather intelligence about him, including his residence, daily routine, and work location. Aslanov agreed to carry out the mission and to accept the promised financial terms.
After returning from that country to Baku, the capital city of Azerbaijan, Aslanov met with Ismailov, who was also no stranger to criminal activity, and together they began carrying out the task assigned to them by the Iranians. They collected information about the senior member of the Jewish community and marked key locations in the target’s life on a map, such as his home, workplace, and the synagogue where he prayed. They sent all the information they gathered to their Iranian handler and their other communications with him via messaging apps. The Azerbaijani security services discovered Aslanov and Ismailov communications with their Iranian handler, and based on this and other evidence, they initiated a trial against them for involvement in terrorism.
Another senior member of the Jewish community in Azerbaijan, not the one Aslanov and Ismailov were targeting, expressed concern about the intelligence-gathering operation on behalf of the Iranians. He stated: “It’s likely the Quds Force Unit 400 is behind this. They have a tradition of recruiting drug smugglers. Thankfully, they only manage to recruit individuals with low intelligence or fanatics from rural areas.”
According to him, this cell or other Iranian cells may have been monitoring additional people in the Jewish community of Azerbaijan, so the Iranian plot could have focused on other senior figures in the community. He added, “The suspects appeared to be prioritizing who would be the easiest and most impactful target.”
Fortunately for the Azerbaijani people and the Jewish people living in the Diaspora, the State Security Service of Azerbaijan is keeping a vigilant eye on Iranian activity against both the citizens of Azerbaijan and the Jewish community of Azerbaijan. We must not forget that Azerbaijani security services also thwarted the attempted attack on the Israeli embassy in Baku that took place in November 2023.
This is further proof of the cooperation between the Azerbaijani people and the Jewish people. Together, the two nations will block the terrorist activities of the Islamic Republic of Iran, which seeks to sow destruction, conflict, and ruin upon Western civilization and anyone who opposes its dark and tyrannical rule.