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Israel’s Mossad, the military and Shin Bet said Monday that Azerbaijani authorities had thwarted an Iran-directed plot to bomb the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline weeks earlier.
The joint statement also claimed that it had thwarted an attack on the Israeli embassy in Baku, a synagogue, and Jewish community leaders, with cell members arrested carrying explosive drones and shrapnel charges they had smuggled into the country.
The joint Mossad-Israeli army-Shin Bet statement said the cell had been "advancing plans to attack a strategic target, the oil pipeline running through Georgia and Türkiye (BTC), as well as several Jewish targets and institutions in the country, including the Israeli embassy, the synagogue in Baku and leaders of the Jewish community."
The statement said, "Members of the operational cell were arrested by Azerbaijani authorities carrying explosive drones and shrapnel charges they had smuggled into the country.
In preparation for their planned attacks, the cell gathered information on their targets using various methods, including physical surveillance and photography, all under the direct instruction of their handlers, directly from Iran."
The Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline runs approximately 1,768 kilometers from Baku on the Caspian Sea through Tbilisi in Georgia to the Turkish Mediterranean port of Ceyhan, where crude is loaded for export.
The BTC pipeline, built by the BTC pipeline company, is 1,776 kilometers in length. While BP operates the Azerbaijani and Georgian sections of the pipeline, the Turkish section is operated by Türkiye's Petroleum Pipeline Corporation (BOTAS).
The pipeline has a capacity to carry 1.2 million barrels of oil per day. In addition to Azeri crude, the pipeline also carries oil from Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan to Türkiye's Ceyhan port, where oil is exported via tankers to the global market.
As the primary export route for Azerbaijani oil, it serves as a critical non-Russian and non-Iranian energy corridor for Europe and global markets. This strategic importance has intensified since the Hormuz crisis began disrupting energy flows through the Gulf.
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