April 26, 2006 - 18:26 AMT
Azerbaijan to Suffer Most of All in Case of Hostilities against Iran
The anti-Azerbaijani statements made by the Iranian government on the threshold of Azeri President's visit to the United States resembles an attempt to exert pressure, political scientist Vafa Guluzade stated when commenting of the statements by head of the Iranian Supreme Security Council Ali Larijani, who did not rule out that the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline may be hit if the U.S. launches hostilities against Iran.
Guluzade considers that Azerbaijan will be the first to suffer from hostilities against Iran and presently the U.S. concerned over a single question: "How to hit Iran to avoid the possibility of a counterblow?" In Guluzade's opinion the answer to this question may be received after the Aliyev-Bush meeting.

For his part political scientist Ilgar Mamedov states the crisis aggravates and this can be proved by the frequent sharp statements. In his opinion, Iran's conceal some real plans however the oil pipeline destruction is unreal. "The start of hostilities will put Azerbaijan in a hard state. If the U.S. promises Azerbaijan to support its position on Karabakh in exchange for joining the anti-Iranian coalition, Azerbaijan will have to take the move. Otherwise the incumbent government will be subjected to sharp critics by the society. If Azerbaijan accepts the U.S. proposal it will acquire a dangerous enemy - Iran. If it defends Iran's interests it will be transformed in one of the theater's of military operations. In case we take a neutral position both conflicting parties will exert pressure on us," the Azeri political scientist said, reported APA.