On 30 March, Kioumars Heydari, Iran's ground forces commander, said that Azerbaijan was hosting Zionist forces and had used Syrian terrorists during the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war.

On the same day, the Azerbaijani Defence Ministry responded to Heydari's latest remarks. The ministry said that Kioumars Heydari, the commander of the Land Forces of the Army of the Islamic Republic of Iran, has made vile defamatory statements regarding Azerbaijan.
"Heydari, in his absurd thoughts, claims that 'Zionist' forces allegedly exist in Azerbaijan and that Azerbaijan used ISIS terrorists brought from Syria during the 44-day Patriotic War and that they are still on Azerbaijani territory. In addition, he stated that Iran will not allow any changes on the border with Armenia," it added.

The report stressed: "First of all, we declare that the accusations of the Iranian side about the presence of any foreign forces on the territory of the Republic of Azerbaijan are groundless and totally unacceptable. In general, there are no foreign forces on the territory of the Republic of Azerbaijan". It added: "We would like to remind K. Heydari that Armenia has been occupying the Azerbaijani territories for 30 years. As a result of this military aggression, a 132-kilometre section of the Azerbaijani-Iranian state border was also occupied. However, the Iranian side had never made any compromising statements about Armenia. On the contrary, the Iranian-Armenian brotherhood was strengthened during this period. It is obvious that there are two main allies of Armenia in the world, one is France and the other is Iran".

The ministry harshly stated: “The Republic of Azerbaijan supports the territorial integrity of all countries and does not interfere in the internal affairs of other states. In response to the accusation that Azerbaijan allegedly used ISIS terrorists during the 44-day Patriotic War, we declare that the glorious Azerbaijani army single-handedly liberated the occupied territories and signed a triumphant chronicle. This claim is nothing but an absurd accusation and slander. It is ironic and ridiculous that this accusation was made by a high-ranking military officer of a state that supports terrorism and whose name is known for committing terrorist acts in various countries of the world.”

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