Armenians Raise Concerns Over Joint Iran-Azerbaijan Military Drills in Occupied Artsakh

Armenians around the world are raising concerns this week after Iran and Azerbaijan began joint military exercises on May 19 in the region of Artsakh, which has been under Azerbaijani occupation since the 2020 war and the 2023 forced displacement of its native Armenian population. The drills, titled “Araz-2025,” are scheduled to continue until May 21 and are taking place just south of Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh), near the Iranian border.

The military activity is causing unease not only in Armenia, but across the global Armenian diaspora. Many fear that the exercises, although labeled “routine,” further legitimize Azerbaijan’s control over Armenian lands and increase the risk of further destabilization in the region.

A Military Exercise in a Region Still Hurting

According to official Azerbaijani reports, Iranian military personnel have arrived in the occupied territories and are participating in high-level planning meetings with Azerbaijani officers. These meetings included briefings on the operation’s objectives, scenarios, safety measures, and multi-stage drills.

This is the first known instance of Iran holding military exercises with Azerbaijan in an area internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, but historically and culturally Armenian, and internationally referred to as Nagorno-Karabakh or Artsakh by Armenians.

The region’s native Armenian population, once numbering over 120,000, was forced to flee following Azerbaijan’s military assault in September 2023. That operation took place in the presence of Russian peacekeepers, who ultimately did not intervene. The Republic of Artsakh was dissolved by January 1, 2024.

Armenians view any military presence or activity in this region—especially one involving outside powers—as a serious violation of historical justice and a potential threat to Armenian sovereignty in the Syunik province, which borders both Iran and Nakhichevan (an Azerbaijani exclave).