Azerbaijani authorities said on May 16 that they apprehended a group of individuals allegedly recruited by Iran to disrupt Azerbaijan's constitutional order and establish Shari’a law in the nation. The statement also said the seven men who were detained planned to assassinate Azerbaijani public figures. Azerbaijani authorities said on February 1 that they had detained almost 40 people on suspicion of spying for Iran. That statement came less than a week after a gunman shot dead a security guard and wounded two other individuals at the Azerbaijani Embassy in Tehran. Both Baku and Tehran officially condemned the incident.
