Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev. Photo: Facebook.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will travel to Azerbaijan next Wednesday for a five-day visit to meet with President Ilham Aliyev and further strengthen bilateral cooperation amid regional tensions.

Netanyahu’s trip, facilitated by Baku’s mediation that led Turkey to approve his transit through Turkish airspace, comes just days after Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian visited Azerbaijan amid ongoing nuclear negotiations with the United States.

Last year, Turkey barred Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s aircraft from flying over its territory, which prevented him from attending the 2024 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Baku.

During the upcoming visit, Netanyahu and Aliyev are expected to address Turkey’s role in Syria and the recent Israeli-Turkish discussions held in Baku, focused on avoiding potential clashes or misunderstandings over military operations in the region.

Scheduled from May 7 to May 11, Netanyahu’s visit will also include a series of high-level meetings focused on strengthening Israeli-Azerbaijani relations, covering areas such as defense cooperation, energy, trade, and regional security. The Israeli leader will also meet with representatives of Azerbaijan’s Jewish community.

Azerbaijan’s ties with Israel have long been significant, with the country serving as the Jewish state’s most vital ally in the Caucasus and Central Asia for more than three decades, fostering a partnership that spans energy security, defense, and intelligence.

As a predominantly Shi’ite Muslim country that shares a lengthy border with Iran while maintaining strong ties with both Israel and Turkey, Azerbaijan holds a unique strategic advantage in stabilizing regional tensions and supporting efforts to normalize relations.

Earlier this month, for example, Azerbaijan positioned itself as a regional mediator by hosting talks between Turkish and Israeli officials in Baku, aimed at preventing unintended incidents in Syria, where both countries maintain a military presence.

“Azerbaijan plays a unique role in Israel’s broader strategy by serving as a potential bridge for normalizing relations between the Jewish State and other Muslim-majority countries,” Rabbi Marc Schneier, president of the Foundation for Ethnic Understanding, told The Algemeiner in an exclusive interview.

He explained that Baku has contributed to regional normalization efforts in the past, notably by facilitating the restoration of full diplomatic ties between Turkey and Israel in 2022, even though the relationship between the two countries has since gone downhill.

According to Schneier, as a strong ally of both Jerusalem and Ankara, Azerbaijan is well-positioned to mediate further diplomatic breakthroughs.

Baku’s strategic importance stems not only from its role at the crossroads of a growing pro-Western bloc countering the regional ambitions of Iran, but also from its economic influence in the region.

Azerbaijan and Israel have continued to expand their cooperation and strengthen their bilateral ties, especially in the energy sector, highlighting the predominantly Shi’ite Muslim country’s emerging role as a strategic player in the Middle East.

Earlier this year, Jerusalem and Azerbaijan’s state oil company, SOCAR, struck a major energy deal. In March, SOCAR also signed a gas exploration license agreement with the Jewish state.

As of 2019, Azerbaijan supplied over a third of Israel’s oil. Last year, Jerusalem was the sixth-biggest buyer of oil from Baku, with sales totaling $713 million.

Meanwhile, Azerbaijan has acquired advanced Israeli defense systems, including the “Barak MX” missile system and surveillance satellites, and remains a leading buyer of Israeli military hardware, which was crucial in its 2020 war with Armenia.

The post Netanyahu to Visit Azerbaijan in Effort to Deepen Strategic Ties Amid Regional Tensions first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

Illustrative: A pro-Hamas march in London, United Kingdom, Feb. 17, 2024. Photo: Chrissa Giannakoudi via Reuters Connect

A man armed with two knives who tried to enter the grounds of Israel‘s London embassy was carrying a “martyrdom note” and told police he wanted to send a message to end the war in Gaza, prosecutors said after charging him with a terrorism offence.

Abdullah Sabah Albadri, 33, appeared in the dock at London’s Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday, having been charged with preparation of a terrorist act and two counts of possession of a bladed article.

He is accused of having attempted to gain unauthorized access to the grounds of the embassy in West London on Monday evening.

Prosecutor Kristel Pous said Albadri had been seen by police trying to scale a wall outside the embassy on April 28.

Albadri was carrying what Pous described as a martyrdom note, without giving further details. She said Albadri had told police officers he wanted to “do something to send a message to the Israeli government to stop the war” in Gaza.

Judge Tan Ikram remanded Albadri in custody ahead of a hearing on May 7, to give prosecutors the chance to get the Attorney General’s consent to proceed with the terrorism charge.

“We remain in close contact with those based at the Embassy of Israel and we appreciate that these charges will be concerning to them,” Commander Dominic Murphy, head of London police’s Counter Terrorism Command, said in an earlier statement.

“I would like to reassure the public, however, that from our enquiries so far, we are not seeking anyone else in connection with this matter and we do not believe there is any wider threat to the public.”

The Israeli embassy said in a statement that British security forces had prevented “an attempted terror attack” from a man armed with a knife, and no staff or visitors had been injured.

“We thank the British security forces for their immediate response and ongoing efforts to secure the embassy,” the statement posted on X said.

“The embassy of Israel will not be deterred by any terror threat and will continue to represent Israel with pride in the UK.”

The Community Security Trust, which provides safety advice to Britain’s Jewish communities, said it was speaking to police but was not aware of any related threats.

The post UK Prosecutors Say Knifeman Who Tried to Enter Israeli Embassy Carried ‘Martyrdom Note’ first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi attends a press conference following a meeting with Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow, Russia, April 18, 2025. Photo: Tatyana Makeyeva/Pool via REUTERS

Iran will hold talks in Rome on Friday with European parties to their now moribund 2015 nuclear deal, its foreign minister said on Wednesday, as both sides seek to position themselves ahead of a new round of US-Iranian negotiations on Saturday.

Reuters reported on Monday that Tehran had proposed meeting Britain, France, and Germany, collectively known as the E3, who stuck to the 2015 deal meant to curb Iran‘s nuclear activity, which unraveled in 2018 when US President Donald Trump walked out of it during his first term in the White House.

“In my opinion, the three European countries have lost their role [in the nuclear file] due to the wrong policies they have adopted. Of course, we do not want this and are ready to hold talks with them in Rome,” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi told state media on Wednesday.

There was initial hesitation within the E3 over concern such talks could create a parallel track and hijack the negotiations pursued by Trump’s second administration that Washington says aim to prevent Iran developing nuclear weapons.

But three European diplomats told Reuters that the E3 decided it was ultimately in their interest to maintain dialogue with Iran and reaffirm how they envisaged the parameters of a new nuclear deal.

Foreign ministry political directors were meeting US officials in Berlin on Wednesday to be briefed on previous rounds of US-Iranian talks and prepare for the Rome meeting, and will head there on Friday, two diplomats said.

Iran is looking to build on the momentum of nuclear negotiations with the Trump administration that resumed in Oman on Saturday and after its talks with Russia and China last week. US and Iranian negotiators will reconvene in Rome on Saturday.

Iran‘s approach to the E3 suggests it is keeping its options open but also wants to assess where the Europeans stand on the possible reimposition of United Nations sanctions against Tehran before October, known in diplomatic circles as the “snapback mechanism,” when a resolution ratifying the 2015 accord expires.

EUROPEAN–IRANIAN TENSIONS

Relations between the E3 and Iran have worsened over the last year despite sporadic meetings since last September against a backdrop of new sanctions imposed on the Islamic Republic over its ballistic missile program, its detention of foreign citizens, and support for Russia in its war against Ukraine.

Highlighting those tensions, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said on Tuesday that Paris would not think twice if the current negotiations failed about launching the snapback of sanctions, which he said would have “devastating effects.”

He accused Tehran of being on the cusp of covertly developing a nuclear weapon. Iran has long denied this, saying its accelerating uranium enrichment program is only for civilian energy purposes.

In a letter distributed to the UN Security Council and seen by Reuters, Iran‘s permanent representative to the United Nations, Amir Saeid Iravani, said Barrot’s comments were “unfounded and politically irresponsible.”

He said that applying the snapback would be “legally and procedurally flawed, inadmissible, and invalid.”

“[Barrot’s] open threat to reimpose sanctions with ‘devastating effects’ on Iran’s economy constitutes a blatant act of political and economic coercion,” the letter said.

On Tuesday, the US Treasury Department imposed new sanctions on what it described as a network based in Iran and China suspected of procuring ballistic missile propellant ingredients for Iran‘s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Araqchi said the fresh US sanctions during negotiations sent the “wrong message.”

Trump has said he is confident of clinching a new pact that would block Iran‘s path to nuclear bomb capability.

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