The maneuvers take place in open areas in northwestern Iran. Footage from state television shows projectiles being fired from tanks, howitzers and helicopters to land targets.
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“We respect good neighborly relations, but we will not tolerate elements of the Zionist regime and terrorists in the Islamic State in the region,” Brigadier General Kioumars Heidari, the commander of the ground forces, told state television.
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A reprimand for Iran’s maneuvers was expressed by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in an interview published on Monday.
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“Every country can conduct military maneuvers on its own territory. It is a sovereign right. But why now, why at our border?” Aliyev told the Turkish news agency “Anadolu”.
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His accusations were rejected by Said Hatibzade, a spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry.
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“The maneuvers that our country is conducting in the north-western border areas are a matter of sovereignty,” a ministry official said in a statement on Tuesday.
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On Friday night, an “attack” took place against the Iranian embassy complex in Baku, Ambassador Abass Musavi told the Iranian news agency IRRA, without disclosing further details.
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“The Republic of Azerbaijan has identified, detained and interrogated four people who attacked the Iranian embassy in Baku at midnight,” the ambassador said, noting that Tehran had protested strongly over the incident.
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Iran and Azerbaijan share a 700-kilometer border.
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Of the 83 million Iranians, ten million are Azerbaijanis.
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Last year, during the Karabakh war, Armenia expressed a diplomatic reprimand to Israel, which supplies Azerbaijan with essential armaments.
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