Azerbaijan Suing CNN for Libel: Can They Do That?

From yesterday’s Complaint in Republic of Azerbaijan v. CNN, Inc. (D. Del.):

… Azerbaijan … brings this defamation complaint against [CNN] … for intentionally falsely reporting that Azerbaijan permitted Israel to use its territory to launch attacks against Iran, causing immeasurable reputational harm to Azerbaijan and endangering Azerbaijani civilians….

On March 5, 2026, four drones penetrated Azerbaijani airspace and struck several targets. One of the drones exploded near a secondary school, injuring two civilians. Another damaged a terminal at the nearby Nakhchivan Airport.

Five days earlier, war had broken out between Iran, on the one hand, and the United States and Israel, on the other (the “Iran War”). Azerbaijan, which shares a border with Iran to the south, is not and has never been a participant in the Iran War. Azerbaijan has not supported military operations by any of the warring nations.

Azerbaijan maintains a policy of neutrality and independence. Azerbaijan does not host any foreign military bases on its territory and, as a non-aligned state, maintains a strict official policy and legislative framework against foreign military footprints.

But, on June 5, 2026, CNN’s reckless reporting threatened to drag Azerbaijan into war. In a CNN World post titled “Exclusive: Israel sent troops to Azerbaijan during Iran war, sources say,” CNN falsely claimed that Azerbaijan had allowed Israel to use its territory to launch attacks against Iran.

CNN’s claims in this regard are demonstrably and knowingly false and recklessly exacerbate geopolitical tensions in an already volatile region. Iran has previously justified attacks against its neighbors as retaliation on the grounds that its neighbors have provided material support to American and Israeli offensive operations.

For instance, Ali Larijani, a senior Iranian official, threatened: “The countries of the region must either prevent the use of their soil by America against Iran themselves, or we will.” Similarly, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (“IRGC”) has issued a press release unambiguously stating that “Countries that host the aggressor American military and have placed their land at the disposal of the aggressor criminals for attacks on Iran should be prepared to receive a corresponding response, and should activate their civil defence [sic] units to safeguard the lives of their citizens and move them away from likely targets.”

As the war has progressed, Ebrahim Rezaei, the Iranian Parliament’s Spokesman for National Security and Foreign Policy, has similarly made clear that “[t]he Gulf states that have stood alongside Trump in the Iran-America regime conflict should watch over their oil and gas wells. In defense of the security of the great Iranian nation, we have no red lines.” Iran has followed through on these statements and claimed responsibility for offensive operations against U.S. military targets in Gulf states.

Against this backdrop, CNN’s June 5, 2026 post (the “Defamatory Post”) is far more than irresponsible reporting. Instead, CNN’s false claims are precisely calibrated to draw Azerbaijan into a regional war.

Azerbaijan does not seek relief from the U.S. judiciary lightly. It has, in fact, made multiple efforts to set the record straight, efforts repeatedly ignored by CNN.

First, in early June, Azerbaijani government officials participated in an “on the record” email exchange with CNN, and expressly denied that any staging of Israeli operations took place on Azerbaijani territory.

On June 6, 2026, immediately after the Defamatory Post was published, Azerbaijan’s Ambassador to the United States wrote to CNN reiterating that no staging of Israeli forces in Azerbaijani territory was authorized or occurred and demanding a formal retraction. Subsequent retraction requests have since been made through counsel.

CNN’s response: a promise to investigate, followed by radio silence. Ultimately, CNN has simply ignored Azerbaijan’s multiple attempts to resolve this matter by retracting, thereby recklessly endangering Azerbaijan and its people….

CNN published the Defamatory Post to third parties. The Defamatory Post is of and concerning Azerbaijan: it names Azerbaijan as the state that allowed Israel to use its territory to launch attacks against Iran. A reasonable reader would understand the Defamatory Post’s statements as defamatory of Azerbaijan because they assert that Azerbaijan secretly facilitated military operations against a neighboring state in breach of its declared neutrality.

False statements of fact in the Defamatory Post include that Israeli forces “operated out of several locations in southern Azerbaijan,” “deployed to the location [in Azerbaijan]” and conducted intelligence and drone operations against Iran from there, and that one of the key operations “launched from Azerbaijan” was the March 4 killing of an IRGC intelligence chief.

The Defamatory Post was made with actual malice, i.e., with knowledge that its statements were false or with reckless disregard for their truth or falsity…. Before publication, Azerbaijan government officials expressly denied that any Israeli operations occurred on Azerbaijani territory. CNN knew that Mr. Lister {one of the authors of the Defamatory Post} had previously authored reporting about Azerbaijan that was demonstrably false and sourced solely to unnamed sources. Independent experts identified that the Defamatory Post rested entirely on undisclosed anonymous sources whose reliability could not be verified. Taken together, these facts establish that those responsible for publishing the Defamatory Post did so with knowledge of, or reckless disregard for, its falsity.

CNN’s false reporting caused reputational harm to Azerbaijan and threatens tenuous international relations….

I very much doubt that CNN knew the statements it published were false or likely to be false (the “actual malice” standard that would apply to public figure defamation lawsuits). But beyond that, there’s a good chance that Azerbaijan, as a governmental entity, can’t maintain a defamation claim at all, whether or not it can show “actual malice.”

That’s because of a lesser-known holding of N.Y. Times v. Sullivan (1964):

For good reason, “no court of last resort in this country has ever held, or even suggested, that prosecutions for libel on government have any place in the American system of jurisprudence.”

That was said about libel on American governments. But the few cases that consider the question suggest that foreign governments, like domestic ones (including Indian tribes), can’t prevail in defamation suits, either. Sharon v. Time, Inc. (S.D.N.Y. 1984), for instance, allowed a defamation claim by Ariel Sharon (then a former Israeli Defense Minister) to go forward, but noted that “The statement which plaintiff claims is offensive names him personally, without attributing his alleged discussion about revenge to his government. Likewise, Air Zimbabwe v. Chicago Tribune Co. (Cal. Super. Ct. 2000), rejected Air Zimbabwe’s lawsuit because Air Zimbabwe, “as a government entity, is precluded under the First Amendment from pursuing a defamation claim.” That’s not a large body of precedent, but, combined with the logic of N.Y. Times v. Sullivan, it portends an uphill battle for Azerbaijan.

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