Iran threat to ‘enemy oil lines’ raises fear over Azerbaijan-Turkey pipeline supplying Israel
An adviser to the commander of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) on Tuesday said Tehran would target what he described as the enemies’ oil supply lines and would not allow oil exports from the region to continue.
The statement carried by Iranian media came amid escalating regional tensions following US and Israeli strikes on Iran.
Senior Arab sources told Middle East Eye that the advisor to the commander's statement increases the serious concerns that Iran will target the BP-owned Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline, which transports crude from Azerbaijan to Israel.
‘The Iranian threat to strike 'enemy oil lines’ can only mean the BTC pipeline, as it is a main supplier of crude oil to Israel," the source told MEE.
Close to 30 percent of Israel’s supply of oil flows through the BTC pipeline.
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"The pipeline runs from Azerbaijan through Georgia to Israel via Turkey. Targeting it is within Iran’s close reach, with Azerbaijan being nearest to it,” said the source, referring to the major east–west energy corridor that transports crude oil from the Caspian Sea to the Mediterranean.
On Monday, Iran said it would “fire” on any ship transiting the Strait of Hormuz as a result of the US and Israeli attack.
"The strait (of Hormuz) is closed. If anyone tries to pass, the heroes of the Revolutionary Guards and the regular navy will set those ships ablaze," Ebrahim Jabbari, a senior adviser to the IRGC commander-in-chief, said on Monday, according to state media.
The Strait of Hormuz is a critical waterway just 21 miles wide at its narrowest point, through which about 20 percent of the world's daily oil consumption and natural gas passes.
'Dirty work through Azerbaijan'
Senior Iranian sources told MEE that Israel has been "carrying out its dirty work against Iran and the region through Azerbaijan," adding that it has increased in recent years.
In November 2024, the Stop Fuelling Genocide campaign released evidence that suggested that tankers shipped crude oil from Turkey’s Ceyhan port to a pipeline near Ashkelon in Israel.
The port is the last stop on the BTC pipeline, from where oil is then shipped from the Heydar Aliyev Terminal at Ceyhan in Turkey to Israel.
Researchers have tracked journeys made by tankers between Ceyhan and Ashkelon, with many of them occurring after Turkey announced its embargo in May 2024, when several countries declared an embargo on Israel for its genocide in Gaza.
In October 2025, researchers from the Palestinian Youth Movement and No Harbour for Genocide, using commercial trading and tracking data, said that tankers continued to dock in Ceyhan to load crude oil.
An Energy Embargo for Palestine investigative report documented how crude oil from the BTC pipeline is refined into fuel for Israeli fighter jets.
These developments come as an Iranian drone attack caused a "limited fire" at Saudi Arabia's Aramco oil refinery in Ras Tanura on Monday.
European gas prices soared almost 50 percent after Iranian strikes prompted Saudi Arabia to close its biggest oil refinery, and Qatar to halt the production of liquefied natural gas (LNG).
US and Israeli bombing of Iran has continued, with President Donald Trump warning that the "big wave" is yet to come.
Tehran's response has targeted Israel and US assets across the region. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it has targeted over 500 US and Israeli sites, using 700 drones and hundreds of missiles.
Due to the tension, insurance providers have cancelled war-risk coverage for ships in the Persian Gulf.
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