Day: March 17, 2026
Israel’s defence minister, Benny Gantz, has just claimed that Iran’s security chief Ali Larijani has been killed, a report that has sent shockwaves through regional capitals and global capitals alike. Tehran has yet to comment, and details remain unconfirmed. But to grasp the potential significance of this claim, it helps to understand the man at its centre: a figure who embodied the complexities, contradictions and intellectual currents of the Islamic Republic itself.
For centuries, the fertile lands of Azerbaijan have been synonymous with abundance. During the Soviet era, Azerbaijan earned the prestigious, albeit informal, title of the “Empire’s Orchard. ” From the high-altitude tea plantations of Lankaran to the sun-drenched tomato fields of Shamkir, Azerbaijani produce fed millions across the vast geography of the USSR. However, as the Soviet Union dissolved, so did the centralised supply chains, leaving the nation’s most resilient sector—agriculture—at a crossroads.
Russia remained the largest source of remittances to Azerbaijan, accounting for $479.3 million. It was followed by Turkiye with $193.2 million, the United States with $100.7 million, Georgia with $43.6 million, and the United Kingdom with $42.4 million. As reported by AzerNEWS, speaking at a briefing on the balance of payments, Samir Nasirov, Director of the Statistics Department at the Central Bank of Azerbaijan, reported that total inflows reached…