The guard of the embassy in Tehran, "Shahid saw everything" at the time of the attack and did not move... Video
On Friday, the Iranian authorities announced the dismissal of the Tehran police chief, after the spread of a video recorded by surveillance cameras showing a policeman who did not move a finger during the armed attack on the Azerbaijani embassy.
Azerbaijani authorities said that a man armed with a Kalashnikov assault rifle attacked the country's embassy in the Iranian capital, on Friday, killing the head of the security service at the diplomatic headquarters and wounding two guards.
The dismissed chief of Tehran's police, General Hossein Rahimi, earlier blamed "personal and family problems" for the attack, according to Iranian television.
But the attack comes at a time when tensions have escalated for months between neighboring Azerbaijan and Iran.
"The entire responsibility for the attack rests with Iran," foreign ministry spokesman Aikhan Hajizadeh told the media, noting that the recent anti-Azerbaijan campaign in Iranian media "encouraged the attack."
He later told Turkish TV channel TRT Haber that embassy staff "are being evacuated from Iran."
Meanwhile, the Iranian authorities dismissed Rahimi from his position as chief of police in Tehran, hours after the video clip of the policeman appeared, according to the Associated Press.
"There have been attempts to threaten our diplomatic mission in Iran before, and unfortunately, the recent bloody terrorist attack demonstrates the serious consequences of not showing interest in our urgent appeals in this matter," the Azerbaijani authorities said.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev described the attack as a "terrorist act".
"The terrorist attack against diplomatic missions is unacceptable," he said in a statement.
And press reports mentioned the Iranian Public Prosecutor, Mohammad Shahriari, as saying that the gunman's wife disappeared last April after a visit to the embassy.
The Iranian judiciary's Mizan news agency quoted Shahriari as saying that the gunman believed his wife was still in the embassy at the time of the attack.
Terrible terrorist attack against #Azerbaijan's Embassy in Tehran.
Head of the Embassy security has been killed, two wounded.
Embassy staff & their families to be evacuated from Iran soon.
pic.twitter.com/ARW0STbHXm
- Nasimi Aghayev (@NasimiAghayev) January 27, 2023
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