Israel Deployed Forces to Four Countries During Iran War

Israel deployed Mossad agents and elite military units — including an airborne rescue unit of the Israeli Air Force — to southern Azerbaijan, the United Arab Emirates, Iraq and Somaliland during its war with Iran, according to a CNN report cited by Middle East Eye. Azerbaijan swiftly denied the account, calling the allegations “entirely baseless”.

The report, if accurate, reveals the geographic breadth of Israeli military planning against Iran and raises difficult questions for at least four governments that may have hosted or facilitated Israeli operations on their soil.

What CNN Reported

CNN said Israel positioned forces in four countries as part of its campaign against Iran. The deployments reportedly included Mossad intelligence operatives and an elite airborne rescue unit of the Israeli Air Force, a unit trained for extracting personnel from hostile territory and conducting special operations deep behind enemy lines.

The four locations — southern Azerbaijan, the UAE, Iraq and Somaliland — form a rough arc around Iran. Azerbaijan shares a land border with Iran’s northwest. The UAE sits across the Persian Gulf. Iraq borders Iran to the west. Somaliland, the self-declared state on the Horn of Africa, provides access to the Gulf of Aden and the southern approaches to the Red Sea.

The positioning would have given Israel forward staging areas for intelligence collection, search-and-rescue operations during airstrikes, and potential ground operations — all without requiring aircraft and personnel to operate exclusively from Israeli territory, thousands of kilometers from most Iranian targets.

Azerbaijan’s Denial

Baku responded within hours. Azerbaijan’s government rejected the CNN report and called the claim that its territory was used for operations against Iran “entirely baseless,” according to Middle East Monitor.

The denial is politically necessary regardless of its accuracy. Azerbaijan maintains a complex balancing act between its defense relationship with Israel — a longstanding arms customer of Israel — and its geographic reality as a country sharing a 765-kilometer border with Iran. Tehran has repeatedly warned Baku against allowing Israeli military or intelligence activity on Azerbaijani soil, and any confirmation of such cooperation could trigger a severe Iranian response.

The UAE, Iraq and Somaliland had not issued public statements on the report at the time of publication.

Strategic Logic

The reported deployments align with a military logic that analysts have long anticipated. Striking Iranian targets across a country of 1.6 million square kilometers from Israeli bases more than a thousand kilometers away presents significant logistical challenges. Forward-deployed rescue teams and intelligence assets would reduce response times for downed pilots, improve real-time targeting data, and provide options for ground-level battle damage assessment.

Southern Azerbaijan would be particularly valuable for operations targeting Iran’s northern military infrastructure, including air defense installations and missile production facilities. The UAE offers proximity to Iran’s southern coast and naval assets. Iraq provides a corridor for operations in western Iran. Somaliland, while more distant from Iran, could support operations related to the naval dimension of the conflict — including monitoring Iranian maritime movements in the Gulf of Aden.

Regional Complications

The report lands at a moment when the broader regional order is under acute strain. The US naval blockade has cost Iran nearly $6 billion in oil revenues, with Iranian crude exports falling to less than one-sixth of pre-war levels. Iranian inflation has hit its highest level since World War II, with ordinary citizens reporting that red meat has become unaffordable.

For governments in the region, the CNN report forces an uncomfortable reckoning. The UAE normalized relations with Israel through the 2020 Abraham Accords, but hosting Israeli military forces engaged in active combat operations against Iran goes well beyond diplomatic normalization. Iraq, where Iranian-backed militias hold significant political and military power, would face an internal crisis if Baghdad were seen as facilitating Israeli attacks on Iran.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun added another dimension Thursday when he said Iran is using Lebanon as a “bargaining chip” with the United States — a statement that reflects growing frustration among regional leaders caught between the two sides.

The Diplomatic Track

The revelation complicates an already fragile diplomatic picture. Iran has been setting conditions for a deal with Washington, including demands for the release of frozen assets. President Trump said Thursday he would be willing to meet Iran’s Supreme Leader “if it was to make a deal,” while also stating that the United States would win “militarily or on paper.”

Evidence of Israeli forces operating from the territory of multiple regional states during the war is likely to harden Tehran’s negotiating posture. Iran’s leadership can point to the deployments as proof that the conflict is not a bilateral dispute but a coordinated campaign involving multiple regional governments — a framing that justifies broader Iranian retaliation, including the kind of strikes on Gulf state infrastructure that have already rattled oil markets.

Oil markets have already stopped believing the administration’s peace narrative. Strikes on Kuwait and Oman have pushed Brent crude to roughly $95 per barrel, and the humanitarian toll continues to mount, with the UN warning that the war has pushed 45 million people toward food crisis.

What to Watch

The key question is whether the CNN report triggers a formal Iranian response directed at the countries named. Tehran has a history of retaliating against states it believes have facilitated attacks on its territory — whether through proxy operations, cyberattacks, or diplomatic pressure. Azerbaijan, sharing a land border with Iran and lacking the security guarantees that the UAE enjoys, may be the most exposed.

The denials from Baku are the first move. Whether the UAE, Iraq and Somaliland follow with their own statements — and whether CNN or other outlets provide additional sourcing — will determine how much damage the report does to the already threadbare diplomatic efforts to contain the conflict.