Israeli drone spying on Iran took off from Nakhchivan: Sources

An Israeli spy drone which Iran recently downed on its way to one of the Iranian nuclear site had taken off from an air base in Azerbaijan’s Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic, sources say.

The anonymous sources said the Hermes drone, which was taken down by Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) forces on August 23 after 300 kilometers of flight, was bound for the Natanz enrichment facility in central Iran.

The revelation about the Israeli drone’s launch site indicates Baku’s involvement in the spying mission, the unnamed sources claimed.

The stealth spy drone was targeted by a surface-to-air missile before it reached the strategic location.

Iran’s nuclear facilities have been a regular target for espionage activities by US and Israeli secret services, which have at times used drones for this purpose. However, all efforts made to this end have been successfully thwarted by the Iranian military forces.

Azeri officials continue to claim that they will never allow their country to be used as a launch pad against Iran, but the Baku government has been serving the interests of the Zionist regime.

Israel’s strategic Haifa port receives nearly 40 percent of its oil needs from Baku-Ceyhan pipeline cutting across Azerbaijan.

In another sign of Azerbaijan’s hostility against the Islamic Republic, a separatist cell calling itself ‘World Azerbaijanis Congress’ recently held an anti-Iran forum in Baku.

The so-called World Azerbaijanis Congress, which was founded in the United States in 1997, seeks the separation of Iran’s northwestern provinces of East and West Azerbaijan and their unification with the neighboring Republic of Azerbaijan.