Iranian media raises alarm over possible NATO presence in Azerbaijan

Published: 2026-01-05 12:38

Russia, which previously declared the deployment of NATO systems in Georgia a “red line,” would likely view any similar move by Baku as a direct threat along its southern border, according to the Iranian analytical website Tahlil Bazar, which focuses on economics and regional markets.

According to the news outlet, the potential establishment of a Turkish or NATO military base near Iran’s borders—particularly in "a region marked by active Zionist intelligence activity”—would pose a serious geopolitical challenge to the Islamic Republic’s strategic depth.

“While global attention is concentrated on the war in Ukraine and instability in West Asia, the project to establish NATO’s largest base in Azerbaijan could ignite a multi-sided conflict in the South Caucasus. Baku faces a choice: either integrate into a regional security framework or turn itself into a forward outpost for Western and NATO-led aggressive projects,” Tahlil Bazar argues.

On July 2, 2025, Eldar Namazov, former head of the Secretariat of Azerbaijan’s Presidential Administration under Heydar Aliyev, called for the establishment of a Turkish military base in Azerbaijan.

By Azerbaijani-Israeli Alliance Global News