Iran has accused Ukraine of attacking one of its commercial vessels in the Caspian Sea over the weekend, killing one person onboard and injuring another.
Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement that the attack occurred early Saturday. The casualties were the result of an explosion, it said.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov identified the vessel as Ana, an Iran-owned dry cargo ship, which departed from the northern Russian city of Astrakhan with “civilian cargo.”
In an online statement Sunday, Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi of Iran said he told his Russian and European counterparts that “what the freeloader in Kyiv did CANNOT GO UNANSWERED.”
The incident came as Ukraine has been conducting long-range strikes inside Russia targeting oil-industry infrastructure, which Ukrainian, U.S. and European officials say has been financially backing Russia’s four-year-long war.
President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine said Saturday online that his country’s military had struck oil targets overnight across the country, including a plant in Kirov, a refinery in Tyumen and a fuel and lubricants depot in Rostov-on-Don.
“We also achieved very strong results with long-range strikes in the Caspian Sea, including vessels used in military cargo shipments involving Iran, as well as a warship,” Zelensky said.
Iran said Zelensky admitted to the attack, which Tehran said was a violation of the United Nations Charter.
“The Ukrainian regime’s attack on an Iranian commercial vessel in the Caspian Sea, an action explicitly acknowledged by the head of that regime, demonstrates the continuation of its irrational and hostile approach toward the Islamic Republic of Iran,” Iran’s foreign ministry said.
“Reaffirming that it has never intervened in the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the Islamic Republic of Iran draws the attention of the United Nations Security Council, European countries and all U.N. member states to the evident fact that, by attacking an Iranian commercial vessel, the Ukrainian regime not only committed an internationally wrongful act but also sought, in a dangerous manner, to widen the scope of war and insecurity.”
Iran has been widely and credibly accused of providing Russia with drones and other military assistance used throughout much of the war.
Tehran has acknowledged providing drones to Russia, but it claims they were provided before the war began in February 2022. Iranian individuals and entities have also been repeatedly linked to networks helping Russia evasion sanctions.
The attack comes as Iran and the United States are at war, and appears to be one of the first direct military overlaps between the two conflicts, with Ukrainian forces striking an Iranian vessel allegedly involved in supporting Russia’s war effort.
Lavrov expressed his condolences over the death of the Iranian sailor in a phone call Sunday with Araghchi, and to asked him to convey words of support to the person’s relatives and friends, according to a statement from Russia’s Foreign Ministry.
Araghchi also spoke with European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas on Saturday night to discuss the attack, warning her of “the unpredictable consequences such adventurism could have for regional and international peace and security,” the Iranian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
(UPI)
