A school in Julfa, Azerbaijan, after what the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry described as a "drone attack carried out by Iran," on March 5, 2026. AP
The war spilled over into Azerbaijan on Thursday, March 5, when two Iranian drones hit the Nakhchivan region, the Azerbaijani exclave bordering Turkey, Iran and Armenia. According to the Azerbaijani defense ministry, one drone crashed into the airport terminal, about 10 kilometers from the Iranian border, injuring four people and damaging infrastructure. The other fell near a school in the village of Shakarabad. "These acts of aggression will not go unanswered," the ministry said in a statement.
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War in Iran: Verified images show scale of Tehran's response and wide range of targets
The incident threatened to reignite tensions between Iran and Azerbaijan. The Islamic Republic, which has a significant Azerbaijani minority, estimated at between 20 and 25 million people, has long viewed Azerbaijan's close relationship with Israel with suspicion. Azerbaijan, a country with 10 million people, is a great place to watch what's happening in nearby Iran. "With this strike, Iran was not only targeting Azerbaijanis but also Israelis. Tehran views Azerbaijan as an Israeli proxy, even if this is not stated publicly," said Tigrane Yégavian, professor of international relations at the Schiller Institute in Paris.
