Americans warned to avoid traveling to picturesque country over security fears

US State Department officials are ringing the alarm over major security fears in Azerbaijan as travelers are urged to reconsider visiting. 

An updated travel advisory was issued on April 28 that urges Americans to reconsider their travel plans due to safety risks. 

While the former soviet state hasn’t changed level status from level 3, the update comes with additional warnings for US citizens to avoid travelling to the country’s southern border amid the war in Iran. 

Azerbaijan, bordered by Russia, Georgia, Armenia and Iran, continues to face risks of Iranian drone and missile attacks as the conflict between Iran and the United States progresses. 

‘Do not travel to the southern border region due to risk of armed conflict, unless this is your best overland exit from Iran,’ the updated advisory said. 

A travel advisory for the country added that threats of terrorism, including sporadic attacks ‘with little or no warning,’ is also a continued concern. 

‘They are using simpler methods of attack like knives, guns and vehicles to target crowds. They often go after unprotected or vulnerable targets,’ the advisory stated.  

Threats of landmines were also noted at the Armenian-Azeri border. 

‘Landmines and unexploded ordnance exist throughout this region,’ the advisory added. 

‘Many of them are not marked, so it can be hard to know where they are.’

Areas of Azerbaijan that may contain landmines included Aghdam, Aghdara, Fuzuli, Gubadli, Jabrayil, Kalbajar, Khankendi, Khojali, Khojavend, Lachın, Shusha and Zangilan. 

Officials also noted ongoing human rights concerns, including reports of arbitrary arrests, restrictions on freedom of expression and mistreatment of detainees. 

‘Journalists and activists may face harassment and imprisonment,’ the advisory said. 

The advisory further said that the government would not be able to provide emergency services to travelers in the region due to permissions needed to travel there. 

Earlier in March, drones from Iran were seen exploding across Azerbaijan, with one lighting a fire near an airport in Nakhchivan and another that came down beside a school. 

The airport lies around six miles from the Iranian border. Four people were injured in the strikes. 

Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev accused Iran of ‘terrorism’ and threatened retaliation.

Tehran denied the allegation and blamed Israel, Azerbaijan’s ally, of trying to stage a provocation.

Nakhchivan is the capital of a strategically sensitive Azerbaijani exclave, which is detached from the rest of the country and wedged between Iran, Armenia and Turkey.

Azerbaijan has deep security ties with Israel, including big arms purchases and intelligence cooperation, which Tehran sees as an Israeli ‘listening post’ on Iran’s northern border.

‘Today a terrorist act was carried out from the Iranian side against the territory of Azerbaijan,’ Aliyev told a hastily convened security council meeting.

Azerbaijan’s military ‘have been instructed to prepare and carry out retaliatory measures … placed on mobilization level number one, and must be ready to conduct any operation,’ he said.

‘Those dishonorable people who committed this terrorist act against us will regret it. Let them not test our strength… This stain will never be erased from their dirty and ugly face,’ he added.

The Azerbaijani defense ministry said it had detected four drones launched by Iran’s army.

‘One of them was disabled by the Azerbaijani army, while the others were directed at civilian infrastructure, including a secondary school building during class hours.

‘Fortunately, the drone targeting the school did not reach its objective and instead fell and exploded near the school,’ it said.

The Nakhichevan Airport terminal was damaged, the foreign ministry said, with video showing grey smoke rising above the building after the strike.

Four people were hospitalized with ‘traumatic brain injuries,’ Sahib Abuzarov, head of emergency services at a hospital in Nakhichevan said later.

Ironically, a day earlier, the Azerbaijan’s strongman president Ilham Aliyev had attended the Iranian embassy in the capital of Baku to pay tribute to slain supreme leader Ali Khamenei.

The general staff of Iran’s armed forces said it did not carry out the attack and pointed the finger at Israel.

‘Such actions by the Zionist regime, aimed at disrupting relations between Muslim countries in various ways, are not unprecedented,’ it said in a statement.