TEHRAN: A gunman stormed Azerbaijan’s embassy in Tehran on Friday, killing the mission’s head of security in an attack Iran said was motivated by personal reasons but Baku labelled an act of “terrorism”.

Azerbaijan’s foreign ministry said “responsibility” for the

shooting, which also wounded two embassy security guards, lies with Iran — with spokesman Ayxan Hacizada telling media in his

country a recent anti-Azerbaijani campaign in Iran had “encouraged the attack”.

Hacizada later told Turkey’s state broadcaster TRT Haber that embassy staff were “being evacuated from Iran”.

Leaked video footage from the embassy, widely shared on social media and published by Iranian media, shows two men parking a car and entering the building in eastern Tehran, before a speeding car approaches and crashes into the rear of their vehicle.

A man holding what appears to be a semi-automatic rifle is seen emerging from the second car and motioning to a security guard before forcing his way into the embassy.

Another unverified video apparently filmed inside the embassy shows two men entering and one of them opening the door in response to commotion outside, allowing a gunman to barge into the building and open fire.

One man appears to be struck in the torso by a bullet and collapses behind an internal door while the assailant is tackled by another guard.

A photo shows what appears to be bullet holes in the front door of the embassy.

Following the attack, Azer­baijan’s foreign ministry said the diplomatic mission’s head of security was killed and that two guards were wounded but in a “satisfactory” condition, adding that an investigation had been launched.

Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev said on Twitter that the attack was an act of “terrorism” and named the dead security officer as First Lieutenant Orkhan Rizvan.

Tehran’s police chief General Hossein Rahimi said the attacker had been arrested and was an Iranian man married to an Azerbaijani woman.

“He claims his wife has been held at the embassy for nine months,” Rahimi said on television.

Tasnim news agency said the assailant had filed a missing persons report for his wife in April last year, adding however that she had already returned to Azerbaijan, citing legal documents from the case.

Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani said Tehran strongly condemned the attack, adding that the motivations behind it were “personal”.

In a joint statement, Iran’s foreign and interior ministries also insisted that “based on the evidence and preliminary observations the attacker fired with a very personal motive”.

Published in Dawn, January 28th, 2023