Presidential aide Hikmet Hajiyev has declared that claims such as “Azerbaijan has recruited ethnic Azerbaijanis as agents and sent them to Iran on behalf of Israel” are fabricated.

Amid the Iran-Israel war, one of the main threats for Azerbaijan is the spread of such disinformation. Various parties are involved in disseminating these claims: groups within Iran that harbor negative views toward Azerbaijan; Armenian media; and Western media outlets influenced by the Armenian diaspora/lobby.

The same tactic is usually used to spread such disinformation: the claim first appears in a little-known media outlet in the region or the Middle East, and then Western media circulate it by citing those sources, turning it into a full-scale campaign. A concrete example of this is the 2019 campaign alleging that Israeli drones which struck the Iranian-backed Hashd al-Shaabi group took off from Azerbaijani territory. That claim first appeared in obscure Middle Eastern media, was picked up by Armenian outlets, and later spread by Western media as a “referenced” story.

The spread of such fake news targeting Azerbaijan amid the Iran-Israel confrontation is to be expected. We must be prepared to counter this disinformation flow.