Iranian Caught Taping Embassies in Azerbaijan
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.

An Iranian citizen who was arrested near the Israeli and Japanese embassies in the Azerbaijani capital of Baku on September 1 was caught filming the Israeli Embassy compound and is suspected of compiling intelligence on behalf of Iran.
Details released by the prime minister’s office yesterday revealed that embassy security guards alerted local policemen in charge of securing the embassy after spotting the suspect parking his car on the main road in front of the embassy and filming the site.
The suspect was detained and his video camera revealed footage of the Dubai airport, the route leading to the city, and additional details, including access routes to the Hyatt Regency Hotel, which is located next to the Israeli and Japanese embassies, and an empty police position nearby.
Further investigation by local police officials revealed that the suspect is an Iranian citizen who reached the site with another Iranian who holds Canadian citizenship and a local driver and local businessman. The Iranian – who has dual citizenship – together with the local businessman entered the Japanese Embassy in order to obtain a visa. While the two were inside, the suspect began filming the Israeli Embassy.
The suspect and local driver claimed that they had decided to film the area because of the beautiful buildings, but the footage clearly undermines their claims. Israeli security officials believe the suspect’s arrest in Baku thwarted a widespread intelligence-compiling operation on Israeli locations.
Officials said that the compiling of such intelligence by Iranian security officials on potential sites is carried out regardless of the type of relationship Iran has with other countries in the region. Officials noted that it is not the first time that Iran has tried to compile information on embassies in the world. On January 23 this year, due to a request by Israeli security officials from the embassy in Nigeria to local police, an Iranian diplomat was arrested after he was spotted passing by the Israeli embassy and residential headquarters.
An inspection of the diplomat revealed that he had a digital camera in his possession and had filmed various national sites in the capital, including government offices, such as the local defense ministry, courthouse and the Nigerian Foreign Affairs Ministry and Police headquarters. Other photos revealed the local United Nations headquarters, the British Consulate building that had been filmed from four different directions and the partially built American Embassy and the United African headquarters.
Further evidence of Iran’s involvement in terror can be found in the car bombings in Argentina of the Israel Embassy in 1992 and the Jewish community center in 1994.