Azerbaijan said it had prevented several acts of sabotage planned by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), including a plot to attack a major oil pipeline running through the South Caucasus to Turkey.
The targets included the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) oil pipeline, which travels via Georgia and Turkey and sends oil to Europe, and also accounts for roughly a third of “Israeli” oil imports. Any damage to its infrastructure could drive global energy prices even higher as the war in the Middle East enters its second week, according to Reuters.
The Azerbaijani State Security Service statement came just a day after Baku vowed to retaliate for what it said was an incursion of four Iranian drones into its Nakhchivan exclave, which injured four people and damaged airport infrastructure. Iran denied it sent the drones into Azerbaijan.
Baku said an investigation found two Iranian citizens and an Azerbaijani national had colluded to bring over seven kilograms of the C-4 explosive into Azerbaijan on the instructions of the IRGC. Authorities have issued international arrest warrants for four people.
