On June 5, CNN published an article titled “Israel sent troops to Azerbaijan during Iran war as part of secret network across region.” Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Milli Majlis Commission on Countering Foreign Interference and Hybrid Threats, and the Media Development Agency separately stated that the claims concerning Azerbaijan were untrue and constituted an information provocation.

The allegations were later repeated by publications such as Middle East Eye, Haaretz, and The Jerusalem Post without verification, contributing to the spread of disinformation about Azerbaijan.

Axar.az reports that Faktyoxla examined several of the article’s claims.

Claim 1: “The forces operated out of several locations in southern Azerbaijan adjacent to Iran’s northern border and, at its closest point, only about 60 miles from the Iranian city of Tabriz, which Israel struck during the war.”

According to Faktyoxla, a map analysis shows that the locations closest to the cited 96.5 km distance would be in the Zangilan and Ordubad districts. However, neither district was mentioned by any foreign source in connection with the Iran-US/Israel conflict.

The report also argues that if foreign military forces had been operating along the Iranian border, Iranian border guards would likely have detected such activity. Nevertheless, Iran has not raised any such concerns with Azerbaijan at any level, either before, during, or after the war.

Claim 2: “One of the key operations launched from Azerbaijan was the killing on March 4 of Rahman Moghaddam, who led the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ (IRGC) intelligence division and who Israel said was responsible for planning an assassination attempt against Trump in 2024. One day later, drones struck an airport in Azerbaijan’s enclave of Nakhchivan, damaging a terminal building and wounding several people.”

Faktyoxla notes that open sources, including an April 27 report by Iran International, state that Moghaddam was killed on March 3, not March 4, during an attack on the Kowsar residential complex in Tehran.

The report further notes that CNN did not specify whether Moghaddam was killed by a drone, missile, or another method, nor did it explain how the strike on the residential building in central Tehran was carried out.

According to Faktyoxla, the discrepancy in dates and the lack of technical details make the account appear more like a fabricated story.

The fact-check also challenges the feasibility of a drone strike launched from Azerbaijan against Tehran, citing the approximately 390-km distance from Astara to Tehran and the mountainous terrain between the two locations, where elevations range from 2,000 to 4,500 meters.

Regarding Iran’s reported retaliation, Faktyoxla states that drone attacks on Nakhchivan occurred on March 5, two days after Moghaddam’s death, not one day later as claimed. It also notes that the targeted facilities were about 145–150 km from Tabriz, rather than the 96.5 km distance cited in CNN’s report.

The report concludes that claims about Israeli troops being stationed 60 miles from Tabriz, Moghaddam’s death resulting from an operation launched from Azerbaijan, and other allegations in the article are unfounded and appear designed to create tensions between neighboring countries and across the region.

Faktyoxla adds that CNN’s failure to respond to requests from Azerbaijani authorities to provide evidence further reinforces concerns that the report constitutes disinformation.