Iran's foreign ministry has declared four Azerbaijan's diplomats in Tehran and Tabriz and expelled them as persona non grata in response to the expelling of four Iranian diplomats earlier this year by the neighboring country.







Four Azeri diplomats in Tehran and Tabriz were declared as persona non grata and expelled, the ministry announced on Friday.

The Iranian foreign ministry reiterated that expelling the Azeri diplomats came in a tit-for-tat move done by Baku earlier this year.

Azerbaijan’s relations with Iran were strained in January following an attack on the Eurasian country’s embassy in Tehran.

Azerbaijan closed its diplomatic mission following the incident and evacuated staff over what it called a “terrorist act,” with President Ilham Aliyev blaming it on the “Iranian establishment.”

This is while an initial investigation pointed to “personal and family-related problems” as the motive of the assailant.

Recent estimates show that Azerbaijan has become Israel’s largest supplier of oil while Tel Aviv is now responsible for almost 70 percent of Baku’s weapons.

Azerbaijan further said it has declared four Iranian embassy employees persona non grata, claiming the diplomats conducted “provocative actions” in the latest deterioration of relations between the two neighbors.

The move came hours after Baku said it arrested six men, who it claimed were linked to Iranian secret services and were plotting a coup in the Caspian nation.