Iran-Launched Drone Strike Hits Azerbaijan’s Nakhchivan Airport and School Area, Two Civilians Injured

Two civilians were injured after drones launched from Iranian territory struck Azerbaijan’s Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic on Thursday, prompting Baku to summon Iran’s ambassador and warn that it reserves the right to retaliate.

Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry said the incident occurred around midday on March 5 when at least two drones crossed the border from Iran into the Azerbaijani exclave. One drone hit the terminal building of Nakhchivan International Airport, while another landed near a school in the village of Shakarabad, injuring civilians and causing damage to infrastructure.

Image Via: Visegrad24

Nakhchivan International Airport lies roughly 10 kilometres from the Iranian border. Azerbaijani officials said the drones were observed approaching from Iranian territory before impacting inside the airport grounds. Video footage circulating online showed smoke rising near the airport terminal following the strike.

“We strongly condemn these drone attacks carried out from the territory of the Islamic Republic of Iran,” Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement. The ministry described the attack as a violation of international law and warned that it “serves to increase tension in the region.”

In response, Azerbaijan summoned Iran’s envoy in Baku to lodge a formal protest and demand clarification from Tehran. Officials said the government expects Iran to take “urgent and necessary measures” to prevent similar incidents in the future.

“Azerbaijan reserves the right to take appropriate retaliatory measures,” the ministry added.

Preliminary assessments suggest the strike may have involved a long-range Arash-2 drone, rather than the more widely known Shahed drones previously used by Iran, though authorities have not yet issued a final technical confirmation.

The attack marks a significant expansion of regional tensions as the ongoing war involving Iran, the United States and Israel continues to spill across borders. Nakhchivan, an Azerbaijani exclave separated from the rest of the country by Armenia but sharing a border with Iran, occupies a strategically sensitive position along the South Caucasus corridor.

Officials in Baku have said the incident risks widening the conflict further into the Caucasus, a region already marked by fragile geopolitical balances and proximity to several major energy and transport routes connecting Europe and Asia.