The Embassy of Azerbaijan will open in Tel Aviv amid a recent strengthening of relations | Photo: JNS

The Embassy of Azerbaijan in Israel will open today in Tel Aviv.

The event will be presided over by Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Baymarov, who will also take the opportunity to meet with Israeli leaders including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Isaac Herzog.

While Israel has had an embassy in Baku since the early 1990s, Azerbaijan had—until this point—opted not to follow suit to avoid angering their southern neighbor Iran. Amid steadily escalating regional tensions—prompted by Tehran’s support of Armenia in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict—Baku has opted to change course.

Following the opening, expect Azerbaijan to prioritize strengthening relations with Israel. While trade and defense relations between Jerusalem and Baku are already close. Roughly 70% of Azerbaijani arms imports come from Israel, while 40% of Israel’s oil imports come from Azerbaijan. The two sides will likely seek to strengthen their strategic relationship to hedge against Iranian influence in the South Caucasus. As such, expect an uptick in joint Azerbaijani-Israeli military exercises. Additionally, as Azerbaijan produces a large number of drones for Israel, expect an increase in production to further reinforce trade and military ties.