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Member of the Public Council under Russian Ministry of Defense: â€œIf the war with Iran begins, Azerbaijanâ€™s main duty will be the protection of the Caspian oil and gas fieldsâ€

17 January 2012 15:34 (UTC +04:00)

Moscow. Farid Akbarov â€“ APA. â€œAzerbaijan must defense its national interests during the US and Israelâ€™s attack on Iranâ€, said Igor Korotchenko, member of the Public Council under the Ministry of Defense of Russia and editor-in-chief of "National Defense" magazine, APA reports.

According to him, if the war with Iran begins, Azerbaijanâ€™s main duty will be the protection of the Caspian oil and gas fields: â€œWhy are the â€œS-300â€ Favorite systems purchased? Because there is a threat that Iran can launch missile attack on unfriendly countries if the war begins. The attacks can be launched on Azerbaijanâ€™s oil and gas fields in the Caspian Sea. Then Azerbaijan must take a position close to Turkey and coordinate its position with Turkey. If the military conflict begins, Turkey can defend Azerbaijan, for example, by bringing Patriot systems to Azerbaijan. It will be necessary for more active defense of airspace. The main thing for Azerbaijan is not to damage its oil infrastructure, because Iran can launch an attack on Azerbaijanâ€™s oil infrastructure in the Caspian Sea through â€œShahab-3â€ missiles. Thatâ€™s why Azerbaijan and Turkey will coordinate this issueâ€.

The analyst also assessed the assumption of settlement of Nagorno Karabakh conflict against the background of the start of military operations against Iran: â€œAs regards the Nagorno Karabakh conflict, I think that the new realities will be established while Azerbaijan increases its military force. Thus, Armenia can go to any negotiations while seeing the increase of Azerbaijanâ€™s military force. It will be in the constructive course. Now Azerbaijan is increasing its military power, new military systems are being purchased. President Ilham Aliyev actively invests in defense sphere. Azerbaijan established Defense Industry Ministry. I donâ€™t think that Azerbaijan will use the situation in Iran for settlement of Nagorno Karabakh conflict. There is more difficult situation hereâ€.