Israeli think tank: Azerbaijan following the 2026 Iran War

Published: 2026-07-07 14:02

"Azerbaijan’s conduct in the 2026 Iran war is better described as alignment tempered by restraint than as neutrality. Beneath an official insistence that it stood outside the conflict, Baku remained a close energy, arms and intelligence partner of Israel and a state whose strengthening ties to Washington — embodied in the U.S.-brokered Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity (TRIPP), which Tehran openly opposes — placed it on the side Iran was fighting. That alignment made Azerbaijan a target, as demonstrated in the Iranian drone strikes on March 5 and subsequent foiled plots. What protected it was not neutrality but a combination of credible military power, a demonstrated readiness to retaliate, and a deliberate refusal to be provoked into the war – paired with the pragmatic maintenance of working relations with Tehran and a steady flow of humanitarian goodwill. With Armenia’s June election returning a government committed to TRIPP, Baku’s westward trajectory has, for now, held its course. However, it may soon confront the difficulty of changing the Armenian constitution in a way that fits President Aliyev’s requirement for a peace agreement in the South Caucasus," according to The Institute for National Security Studies, an Israeli think tank specializing in national security, foreign policy, and strategic affairs.

By Azerbaijani-Israeli Alliance Global News