Attack on Azerbaijan Embassy in Iran, one dead; act of terrorism, says President

A man armed with a Kalashnikovstyle rifle stormed the Azerbaijan Embassy in Irans capital Friday killing the head of security at the diplomatic post and wounding two guards authorities saidTehrans police chief Gen Hossein Rahimi blamed the attack on personal and family problems according to Iranian state television However the assault comes as tensions have been high for months between neighbouring Azerbaijan and IranVideo purportedly from the scene of the attack showed an empty diplomatic police post just near the embassy with one man apparently wounded in an SUV parked outside Inside the embassy past a metal detector paramedics stood over what appeared to be a lifeless body in a small office as blood pooled on the floor beneathA statement from Azerbaijans Foreign Ministry said that an investigation is currently underway into this treacherous attackThe ministry also described the attacker as destroying a guard post with assault rifle fire before being stopped by the wounded guards whom authorities described as being in a satisfactory condition after being shotIranian state TV quoted Rahimi as saying the gunman had entered the embassy with his two children during the attack However surveillance footage from inside the embassy released in Azerbaijan which matched details of the other video of the aftermath and bore a timestamp matching the Azerbaijan Foreign Ministrys statement showed the gunmen burst through the embassys doors aloneThose inside tried to push through metal detector to take cover The man opens fire with the rifle its muzzle flashing as he chases after the men into the small side office Another man bursts from a side door and fights the gunman for the rifle as the footage endsIranian prosecutor Mohammad Shahriari reportedly said that the gunmans wife had disappeared in April after a visit to the embassy The Iranian judiciarys Mizan news agency quoted Shahriari as saying the gunman believed his wife was still in the embassy at the time of the attack iquest even though it was some eight months laterAzerbaijan borders Irans northwest There have been tensions between the two countries as Azerbaijan and Armenia have fought over the NagornoKarabakh regionIran in October launched a military exercise near the Azerbaijan border flexing its martial might amid the nationwide protests rocking the Islamic Republic Azerbaijan also maintains close ties to Israel which Tehran views as its top regional enemy The Islamic Republic and Israel are locked in an ongoing shadow war as Irans nuclear programme rapidly enriches uranium closer than ever to weaponsgrade levelsTurkey which has close ties to Azerbaijan condemned the attack called for the perpetrators to be brought to justice and for measures to be put in place to prevent similar attacks in the future Turkey has backed Azerbaijan against Armenia over NagornoKarabakhTurkey which has been subjected to similar attacks in the past deeply shares the pain of the Azerbaijani people a Turkish Foreign Ministry statement said Brotherly Azerbaijan is not alone Our support to Azerbaijan will continue without interruption as it always hasMeanwhile Azerbaijans President Ilham Aliyev said on Friday that an attack on his countrys embassy in Iran was an act of terrorism and demanded a swift investigation and punishment of the terroristI firmly condemn the act of terrorism carried out at the embassy of Azerbaijan in Tehran Aliyev said on TwitterEarlier the Azeri foreign ministry said a security official was killed and two people were wounded when a shooter opened fire at the embassy in Iran The ministry said it would evacuate its embassy staff in Tehran