The perpetrator passed by the guard post with a Kalashnikov rifle and opened fire inside the embassy, while its staff tried to neutralize him.
[6][7] The perpetrator, armed with a Kalashnikov rifle, passed the security post[8] when three of the embassy employees were entering the building.
[12] The attacker fatally shot the head of the security service, senior lieutenant Orkhan Asgarov, and injured two others.
One member of the security staff attempted to wrestle the gun away, but only managed to push the attacker out of the embassy and lock the door.
[19] According to Tehran police chief Sardar Hossein Rahimi, the preliminary investigation suggested the motive of the attacker was believed to be personal, with family issues.
[20] Rahimi added that the attacker initially arrived at the administrative building with a 14-year-old girl and a 7-year-old boy in a Kia Pride.
[21] According to the head of Tehran's Criminal Prosecutor's Office, Mohammad Shahriari, the suspect claimed during the preliminary investigation that his wife went to the embassy in April 2022 and did not return home.
[10] Azerbaijani Press Agency, citing the CCTV footage[11] and its diplomatic channels stated that this information was completely baseless and added that the attack on the embassy was an act of terrorism.
[25] Aykhan Hajizadeh, head of the press service department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan, told the embassy that "they don't think that the attack was carried out on personal grounds".
[26] Rahimi was fired from his position within hours after footage emerged that appeared to show an Iranian security guard at the entrance doing nothing to stop the attack.
[33] Saudi Arabia stressed its solidarity with Azerbaijan and its people, and called for respecting diplomatic missions and punishing the perpetrators.
[34] President of Egypt Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, who was in Baku the day after the attack, expressed his condolences to Aliyev in person.
[47] Bujar Osmani, OSCE chairperson-in-office and foreign minister of North Macedonia, strongly condemned the attack and called for accountability of the perpetrators.