When Iranian drones struck an airport terminal in Azerbaijan’s Nakhchivan exclave last Thursday, injuring at least two civilians and narrowly missing a school, Tehran accomplished something remarkable: it threatened the one neighbor that had studiously avoided the escalating conflict between Iran and the West.
The attack was strategically senseless. French intelligence claims that Baku explicitly told Jerusalem and Tehran it would stay out of the Iran crisis. However, Iran dragged a neutral country into a wider conflict, transforming what might have remained a bilateral conflict into something much more dangerous. As a consequence, Azerbaijan decided to pull out its diplomatic staff from Iran and amass troops near the border.
Tehran failed to anticipate the consequences of its actions. By striking Azerbaijan, Iran pulled Turkey into the conflict. Ankara wasted no time condemning the strikes and pledging to stand by its closest ally. Turkey and Azerbaijan share linguistic, ethnic, and strategic bonds that make an attack on one feel like an attack on both.
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Perhaps more dangerously, the strike threatens to re-ignite the uprising the regime has spent decades suppressing. Tens of millions of ethnic Azerbaijanis live inside Iran as the country’s largest and most systematically oppressed minority. They’ve watched the regime crush even modest demands for cultural autonomy. Now Tehran has attacked its ethnic homeland while it maintained neutrality.
The strike also reveals Iran’s mounting desperation as its strategic position erodes. The target wasn’t military infrastructure but a civilian airport in an exclave at the heart of the most consequential infrastructure project in the South Caucasus. Last August, President Donald Trump brokered a peace agreement between Azerbaijan and Armenia that included development rights for what he rebranded the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity. This corridor would connect Azerbaijan to Turkey, creating transit from China and Central Asia to Europe that bypasses both Russia and Iran.
For Tehran, this represents an existential economic threat. The corridor would sever Iran’s land connection to Armenia and the Caucasus, cutting off trade routes it relies on to evade sanctions. It would also place Iran’s sole land border with Armenia under U.S.-controlled infrastructure, effectively isolating Tehran from remaining regional partners. Russia shares these concerns, as the route undermines Moscow’s plans for a sanctions-proof corridor from India through Iran to Russian territory.
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Which brings us to the drone strike itself. A review of the photo footage of the debris suggests that at least some parts of these UAVs were marked with Latin or Cyrillic letters that Iranians do not use on equipment. Drones with similar patterns struck the UAE, pointing to Russian support. Whether Moscow directly supplied these weapons or enabled the strike, the message is clear: the axis resisting American influence will use whatever means necessary to disrupt the Trump Route.
This is why Congress needs to repeal Section 907 permanently. The 1992 provision restricts U.S. assistance to Azerbaijan, making it the only post-Soviet state facing such barriers. While presidents have waived the restriction since 2002, and Trump waived it again last August, temporary waivers send the wrong signal at the wrong moment.
Azerbaijan now faces Iranian retaliation for maintaining the neutrality. The country has placed its military on full combat readiness. Its president demanded that Tehran apologize and hold perpetrators accountable. But words matter less than capabilities, and U.S. policy treats Azerbaijan as a provisional partner rather than a strategic ally where American interests are directly threatened.
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The irony is bitter: Section 907 was enacted over concerns about Azerbaijan’s treatment of Armenia. Yet today, the two countries have signed a U.S.-brokered peace agreement offering both unprecedented economic opportunities. At the day of the attack Azerbaijan has sent additional 1,984 tons of diesel fuel, along with 135 tons of fertilisers to Armenia. The restriction now serves primarily as a Russian and Iranian propaganda tool, suggesting American commitments are unreliable.
Last Thursday’s drone strike made one thing clear: neutrality is no longer an option in the South Caucasus. Tehran chose to make it so. Whether Washington will stand with a country that respects American requests for restraint, or whether outdated restrictions will prevent us from supporting an ally in need, is the question. Congress needs to send a clear message about where America stands.
Olivier Guitta is the Managing Director of GlobalStrat, a security and geopolitical risk consulting company for companies and governments. Olivier tweets @OlivierGuitta.