Iran expels four Azerbaijani diplomats in a 'retaliatory' response

Iran has expelled four Azerbaijani diplomats from Iran after declaring them "persona non grata", a media report said.

The move was a "retaliatory response" to the expulsion of four Iranian diplomats from Azerbaijan after having been declared "persona non grata" by Baku in April, Iran's official news agency IRNA said in a report on Friday, without elaborating on the exact timing of the move and its other reasons, Xinhua news agency reported.

According to IRNA, the four Azerbaijani diplomats were working at Azerbaijan's embassy in Tehran and its consulate in the northwestern city of Tabriz.

In early April, Azerbaijan declared four diplomats of the Iranian embassy in Baku as "persona non grata" due to their activities that were "incompatible with diplomatic status".

On April 6, Azerbaijan's Foreign Ministry said it had summoned Iran's ambassador Seyed Abbas Mousavi to inform him that the four should leave the country within 48 hours.

--IANS

int/sha