An Iranian television host has sparked a diplomatic row with comments suggesting that neighbouring Azerbaijan will soon be unified with Iran.

Hossein Hosseini, a host on the Iranian state-run TV network Ofogh, said on air: "If you don't tell some people something, they'll imagine it anyway. A Baku TV host said that all of Iran is ours! They used to say that Azerbaijan and Ardabil are ours too. Let the Baku host know that if Iran decides, we'll soon be broadcasting the weather forecast for Northern Azerbaijan on our TV!"

Hosseini also expressed hope that the "former Azerbaijan" would soon rejoin Iran. The comments, which appeared to be made without prior coordination, were seen as a response to recent media debate in Azerbaijan.

The remarks have raised eyebrows, as they seem to imply a desire for territorial expansion and unification with Azerbaijan, which has been an independent country since the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

It is worth noting that the comments were made on a state-run TV network, which may indicate a level of official backing or at least tolerance for such views.

However, it is also possible that the comments were made without official approval and may not reflect the views of the Iranian government.

The comments come at a time when tensions between Iran and Azerbaijan are already running high. Although both countries are Shia Islam in faith, there has always been tension over the fact that Azerbaijanis make up the largest ethnic minority in Iran, with estimates suggesting they number around 15mn-20mn people, or approximately 18-25% of the country's population. Notably, Iran's current President Masoud Pezeshkian has Azeri roots, while Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei is half-Azerbaijani on his mother’s side. 

Azerbaijan has sided with mostly Sunni Turkey in the geopolitical rivalry between Turkey and Iran. Tehran has also supported Azerbaijan's rival Armenia and has fiercely opposed Baku's dream of creating a so-called "Zangezur corridor" across Armenia between Azerbaijan and its exclave of Nakhchivan. 

While it is supported by Azerbaijan and Turkey, Armenia has rejected the project, fearing it could lead to alterations in regional borders. Iran shares these concerns, viewing the corridor as a potential threat to its national security and regional influence.

The controversy over the Zangezur proposal worsened after Russian President Vladimir Putin reportedly expressed support for the corridor in a conversation with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, according to Baku-based media outlets. This was followed by an official statement from the Russian foreign ministry spokesperson emphasising the necessity of establishing the Zangezur corridor.

In response, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi issued a strong rebuke, stating, "Any threat to the territorial integrity of our neighbours, or redrawing of borders, whether in the north, south, east or west, is completely unacceptable and a red line for Iran."

On September 3, Iran’s Foreign Ministry "invited" Russian Ambassador Alexei Dedov to express Tehran's concerns over Moscow's support for the Zangezur corridor project.

During the meeting with Ambassador Dedov, Mojtaba Damirchi Lou, director general of Eurasia for Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, stressed the need to respect national sovereignty and territorial integrity as a basis for sustainable peace and regional cooperation.

In the last spate of tensions between Iran and Azerbaijan in 2022, in a scathing editorial written by university lecturer and diplomat Ehsan Movahedian for a magazine linked to the Iranian foreign ministry, President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev is referred to as a “political dwarf”.

Movahedian pummeled the leader of Iran’s neighbour by outlining extensive detail of alleged previous transgressions as a devotee of gambling.  

Movahedian concluded that the Aliyev family, including Ilham Aliyev’s late father and predecessor as president Heydar Aliyev, are not “grateful” for the love and magnanimity of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and have “forgotten that if it were not for Iran's help in the first Karabakh war, Armenia would have advanced to Baku”.

Movahedian continues that “they would have all returned to Tabriz as refugees”.

In an outright bizarre claim, Movahedian went on to say that the young Aliyev once had to have Tehran pay for some suits tailor-made for him as he had no money. He then damns the Azerbaijani army for being weak compared to the “flood” of Iranians, while also saying it would cost Tehran less than $100,000 to invade and occupy Baku.

In a final heated statement, Movahedian said that “Aliyev has opened the gates of hell” with his childish and rude actions and that dark days are awaiting him.

Without leaving much to the imagination, he talks of how Iran’s 2001 military response to defend its interests in the Caspian Sea would be repeated on a much larger scale (back then, an Iranian warship and fighter plane threatened a BP vessel exploring for oil in waters claimed by Azerbaijan).