Officials in Azerbaijan say they have arrested 22 people who were working with Iran's Revolutionary Guards in plots to attack the American and Israeli embassies in Baku.

Security officials say they seized "(f)irearms, cartridges, explosives and espionage equipment" during the arrests.

Azerbaijan sits between Iran and Russia on the Caspian Sea. Relations with Iran have been rocky of late.

The country's defense minister met with senior Iranian officials earlier this week after Iran criticized an Azerbaijani arms deal with Israel. Iran also has accused its neighbor of letting Israel conduct intelligence gathering operations from Azerbaijan, a charge government officials denied.

Wednesday's arrests are the second involving Iranian terror activities in the past month. Officials arrested 20 other people in late February on suspicion they were plotting attacks for Iran and its Lebanese proxy Hizballah.

The arrests come on the heels of warnings from Israel's security council that its citizens avoid traveling to Turkey due to imminent Iranian-backed terrorist plots targeting them.

Diplomatic targets appear to be priority for Iran in recent terror plots. Last month, terrorists suspected of being tied to Iran planted bombs on cars belonging to Israeli diplomatic officers in India and Georgia. A third plot in Bangkok failed when police moved in on the suspects and one of them blew off his own leg in an explosion.

An indictment filed in New York alleges Iran financed a plot to kill the Saudi Arabian ambassador to Washington.