Foreign Policy, "Israel's Secret Staging Ground": Will Israel Use an Air Base in Azerbaijan to Attack Iran's Nuclear Facilities?

Is the cat out of the bag?

In a Foreign Policy article entitled "Israel's Secret Staging Ground" (http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/03/28/israel_s_secret_staging_ground?page=full) written by Mark Perry, various US diplomatic, intelligence and military officials are anonymously quoted as voicing concern that Israel intends to use an airbase in Azerbaijan as part of a planned attack on Iranian nuclear facilities. It doesn't take much imagination to understand that an air base in Azerbaijan would resolve refueling problems inherent in such an Israeli air strike. According to the article, Obama administration officials are worried that an Israeli presence in Azerbaijan "complicates U.S. efforts to dampen Israeli-Iranian tensions," and Turkey is also fuming.

Where is Azerbaijan, which is approximately the size of Maine? See the map below (Azerbaijan in red perched over Iran's northern border), courtesy of the Central Intelligence Agency:

Why does Azerbaijan, whose population, like that of Iran, consists mostly of Shiite Muslims, maintain a warm relationship with Israel, including expanding economic ties? The answer is easy: There are some 16 million Iranian Azeris, or 24 percent of Iran's population, making them Iran's largest ethnic minority, and there is occasional reference to secession of "South Azerbaijan," i.e. the Iranian Azeri territories. Recently, Iran accused Azerbaijan of assisting Israel in assassinating its nuclear scientists, and Azerbaijan accused Iran of plotting terrorist acts against the embassies of Western governments.

As for the annoyance of the Obama administration with Israel for making preparations for a possible air strike against Iran, did anyone really think that Netanyahu could afford to ignore repeated Iranian threats against Israel's existence (see: http://www.mehrnews.com/en/newsdetail.aspx?NewsID=1524218)? Given Obama's open microphone gaffe when speaking with Russia's Medvedev, Netanyahu must also be wondering what messages of "flexibility," after the US elections in November, were also conveyed to Iran's Supreme Leader Khamenei.