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Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia

Azerbaijan shuts mosque linked to Iran supreme leader

2021-10-06

[AlAhram] Azerbaijan has closed a mosque linked to Iran's supreme leader, Iran's Tasnim news agency reported Tuesday, days after Tehran launched war games near their shared border in a move denounced by Baku.

"The mosque and representative office of Seyyed Ali Akbar Ojaghnejad, representative of supreme leader (Ayatollah) Ali Khamenei
...the very aged actual dictator of Iran, successor to Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini...
in Baku, were sealed and closed today by order of the authorities of the Republic of Azerbaijan," Tasnim said, without giving further details.

Ojaghnejad has held the post since 1996, according to the website of his office, which is located inside the mosque.

Azerbaijan's interior ministry front man Eskhan Zahidov said in a statement that the move was necessary because of "a surge in Covid-19 cases in several locations in Baku" and that the mosque's operation had been "suspended temporarily".

Iran's embassy in Baku said in a statement on Tuesday evening that it had followed up on the matter via diplomatic channels, adding that there had been no advanced warning of the move.

Since mid-September, tensions have soared between the two neighbours, who share a 700-kilometre (430-mile) border.

On Friday, the Iranian army's ground forces began manoeuvres near the frontier, a move criticised by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev.

"Every country can carry out any military drill on its own territory. It's their sovereign right. But why now, and why on our border?" Aliyev had told ~~Ottoman~~ Turkish news agency Anadolu..

Another recent bone of contention was Baku's decision to impose customs taxes on Iranian trucks crossing its territory to Armenia.

To avoid the route, Iran's roads ministry announced on Monday that it was sending a delegation to Yerevan to discuss the completion of a road that directly links Iran
Iran

...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate ~~Jews~~ ~~Zionists~~ Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol...
to Armenia.

The statement said Azerbaijan "currently controls 20 kilometres of this 400 kilometre road that runs from Norduz (in Iran) to Yerevan".

Iran was "ready to complete the remaining part of the road as soon as possible," said the statement, which called the road "strategic" for Iranian trade.

Posted by:trailing wife

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