Azerbaijan’s State Security Service (SSS) said in a press release that it had prevented a series of terrorist and sabotage plots allegedly organised by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps targeting infrastructure and Jewish sites in the country, while critics and social media users have questioned the evidence presented by authorities.

In a statement, the SSS said the alleged plots aimed to create panic among the population and damage Azerbaijan’s international reputation. Authorities said the targets included the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline, the Israeli embassy in Baku, a leader of the Mountain Jewish religious community, and the Ashkenazi synagogue.

According to the SSS, several explosive devices were smuggled into Azerbaijan by a network allegedly coordinated by Iranian citizens with links to the IRGC. One container discovered near Shikhov in Baku’s Sabail district reportedly contained 7.73kg of C-4 explosive designed to destroy reinforced structures. Authorities also said two remotely controlled explosive devices and another device weighing 1,280 grams with a lethal blast radius of 250-300 metres were later discovered in separate locations.

The security agency said Azerbaijani citizens recruited by the network retrieved and hid the explosives at various sites across Baku and surrounding districts. Investigators also said Iranian citizen Sajjad Moghadam Sati Sofi Evad Sheikhzadeh allegedly attempted to recruit an individual to plant an explosive device under a bridge in the Sangachal settlement for $50,000 and had received instructions to prepare assassination attempts targeting Jewish individuals in Azerbaijan.

The SSS identified Ali Asghar Bordbar Sherami, described as a colonel in the IRGC Intelligence Organisation, as the organiser of the alleged plots. Several Iranian citizens were placed on an international wanted list.

Authorities said Azerbaijani citizens Tarkhan Guliyev, Nijat Aghayev, Asad Abdullayev and Rashad Rustamov were convicted of involvement in the alleged terrorist network and sentenced to six years and six months in prison. Three other defendants — Narmina Shabanova, Naib Ismiev and Elvin Ahmadov — were charged with preparing an assassination attempt and illegal handling of weapons and explosives, with court hearings ongoing.

However, social media users and independent commentators have questioned the official narrative, pointing to previous criminal cases involving some of the suspects.

According to reporting by OC Media, several users claimed that individuals presented by the SSS as participants in an Iranian-linked terrorist network had previously been detained on drug possession charges.

Tarkhan Guliyev — shown in operational footage released by the SSS — was registered in Azerbaijan’s detention database on drug charges on December 14, 2023.

Another suspect named by the security service, Asad Abdullayev, had previously been arrested several times, with the most recent detention in March 2015 for theft of food and clothing, according to records published on the Interior Ministry’s website.

A separate case cited by critics involves Khadija Aghayeva, whose name was linked by the SSS to Iranian citizen Hafez Tavassoli, described by authorities as an IRGC coordinating agent. According to the security service, Tavassoli allegedly asked Aghayeva to keep a box containing explosives for two days.

However, state news agency AzerTac previously reported that Aghayeva had been arrested on 15 October 2024 in a criminal case investigated by the Nasimi district police. She was sentenced for possession of more than eight kilograms of heroin, marijuana and methamphetamine, as well as electronic scales and methadone pills containing psychotropic substances.

AzerTac reported that the drugs were purchased from Iranian citizens with the intention of resale.

According to the SSS, the group also planned attacks against the Israeli embassy in Baku and members of Azerbaijan’s Jewish communities.

Meanwhile, Narmina Shabanova, Naib Ismiev and Elvin Ahmadov — whose court hearings have been ongoing since November 2025 — have not been publicly presented by authorities as having direct ties to the IRGC.

The case has unfolded amid heightened tensions between Azerbaijan and Iran following the reported drone strikes on the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic on 5 March. Azerbaijani pro-government media outlets have intensified anti-Iran rhetoric since the incident, and news of the court sentences appeared shortly afterwards.

Some activists and commentators based abroad have criticised the government’s rhetoric and warned about the risks of escalation.

Feminist activist Vafa Naghi wrote on social media that Azerbaijanis, who had previously focused on protesting domestic political issues, now faced the possibility of a broader conflict with Iran.

Naghi said President Ilham Aliyev’s rhetoric toward Iran resembled language used against Armenia during the 2020 Second Nagorno-Karabakh War.

Human rights activist Emin Aslanov, based in Germany, argued that the government’s crackdown on civil society, media and opposition groups had contributed to the current tensions.

Aslanov also suggested that Azerbaijan’s continued closure of its land borders could be linked to geopolitical calculations involving the United States and Israel.

The SSS said investigative and operational measures are continuing to identify other individuals allegedly involved in the case.