A senior adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader warned on Saturday that Azerbaijan would damage the image of Shiites if it proceeds with plans to host a major rabbinical meeting.
Ali Akbar Velayati said he hoped reports of the event were false, describing it as “anti-Islamic and against the dignity of Shiites.”
Such a move by Baku, he added, was unprecedented and suggested it might be tied to efforts to widen the Abraham Accords, under which several Muslim states normalized ties with Israel.
The remarks appeared aimed at the Conference of European Rabbis, scheduled for Nov. 4–6 in Baku, where Jewish leaders from across Europe are due to convene.
Velayati’s comments come as Azerbaijan deepens international links, including through a landmark peace deal reached in Washington last month. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev signed the accord at the White House with US President Donald Trump, granting exclusive US development rights to a transit corridor through the South Caucasus.
The route will connect Azerbaijan to its Nakhchivan exclave across southern Armenia. The White House said the project, named the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity, would expand energy and resource exports.
Tehran has objected to the corridor, warning it sidelines Iranian trade routes and diminishes its role in the region. Iranian officials have also accused Azerbaijan of permitting Israeli activity on its soil, intensifying mistrust.
The dispute over the rabbinical gathering now adds a cultural and religious dimension to already fraught relations between Iran and Azerbaijan.
