Israel announces Azerbaijan will open an embassy in Tel Aviv

Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid announced today that Azerbaijan will open an embassy in the city of Tel Aviv, further strengthening the strong ties between the two countries and marking the opening of the first embassy of a Shia Muslim country in the Jewish state.
 
"The Azerbaijani Parliament today took the historic decision to open an Azerbaijani embassy in Tel Aviv, Israel. This will be the first embassy in Israel of a Shia-majority country with a Shia government," the Prime Minister's office said in a statement.
 
"I welcome the decision of the National Assembly of Azerbaijan to open an embassy in Israel," Lapid said, noting that it is "an important partner of Israel and home to one of the largest Jewish communities in the Muslim world".
 
He thanked Azeri President Ilham Aliyev for the decision, which he said "reflects the depth of the relationship" between the two countries and "is the result of the Israeli government's efforts to build strong diplomatic bridges with the Muslim world".
 
While Azerbaijan does not yet have an embassy in Israel, the two countries have maintained diplomatic relations for more than 30 years and Israel has had an embassy in Baku since 1993.
 
The ties between the two countries are particularly strong in security matters, with Israel being one of the main arms exporters to Azerbaijan.
 
The Caucasus country already had a trade and tourism office in the Jewish state and, according to Israeli media, the decision to open an embassy was delayed for fear of retaliation from Iran, with whom it shares borders.
 
Tensions between Baku and Tehran have escalated in recent weeks, including military exercises on both sides of the border area.