By Ilan Berman on 12.17.07 @ 11:38AM
Last week, I passed along the news that the Azeri government had convicted more than a dozen militants for plotting a coup to overthrow the government of president Ilham Aliyev with the help of Iranian security services. Now comes word that those radicals might have been doing a bit more than simply seeking governmental change in Baku. From the Associated Press yesterday: "Azerbaijan's security agency said Saturday that 15 people convicted this week of treason had passed information on U.S., British and Israeli activities in the ex-Soviet republic to Iranian intelligence… The National Security Ministry gave new details about the group, which allegedly passed to Iranian agents details on Western embassies, companies, pipeline operations and employees operating in Azerbaijan from 2005 to 2006." Lovely.
topics:
Iran, Israel
Ilan Berman is vice president for policy at the American Foreign Policy Council in Washington, D.C. This article is adapted in part from his new book, Winning the Long War: Retaking the Offensive Against Radical Islam, which has just been released by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.