Iran says Ukrainian attack on vessel in Caspian Sea killed sailor

Iran’s Foreign Ministry on Saturday condemned a Ukrainian attack on an Iranian commercial vessel in the Caspian Sea, saying it resulted in an explosion that killed one sailor and injured another.

Throughout the war in Ukraine, Kyiv has had to counter Iranian-designed drones deployed by Moscow. Kyiv has offered its drone interception expertise to countries in the Middle East that have suffered strikes from Iran.

Tehran described the attack on its vessel as an act of aggression and said it would defend its national interests and security, while accusing Kyiv of seeking to expand the war in Ukraine.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry summoned Ukraine’s chargé d’affaires in Tehran to convey its protest over what it described as a “hostile and criminal” attack, Iran’s state news agency IRNA reported.

The Iranian denunciation coincided with comments by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that Kyiv had noted Russia was passing on its satellite observations in the Middle East to Iran to enable it to direct strikes in the region.

Zelenskyy had earlier said that Ukraine’s forces struck a Russian warship and vessels used for transporting Iranian-linked military cargo in the Caspian Sea.

The Ukrainian president, in subsequent remarks posted on X, said Kyiv had recorded since the beginning of July “active Russian satellite surveillance of the Gulf states and U.S. military facilities located there. These images subsequently appear in Iran.”

“At the same time, there is a clear correlation between Russia’s satellite imagery of these sites and Iranian strikes — both before the attacks, in preparation for them, and afterward, to assess the damage inflicted,” Zelenskyy said.

He said that on July 19 and 20 alone, Russian satellite observation had included four air bases: two in Bahrain, one in Jordan and one in Kuwait.

伊朗外交部周六谴责乌克兰袭击里海一艘伊朗商船，称袭击导致爆炸，造成一名水手死亡，另一名水手受伤。

在整个乌克兰战争期间，基辅不得不应对莫斯科部署的伊朗设计的无人机。基辅已向遭受伊朗袭击的中东国家提供了无人机拦截方面的专业技术。

德黑兰将对其船只的袭击描述为侵略行为，并表示将捍卫其国家利益和安全，同时指责基辅企图扩大在乌克兰的战争。

据伊朗国家通讯社伊通社报道，伊朗外交部召见了乌克兰驻德黑兰临时代办，就其所称的“敌对和犯罪”袭击事件表示抗议。

伊朗的谴责恰逢乌克兰总统泽连斯基发表评论，称基辅方面注意到俄罗斯正在将其在中东的卫星观测结果传递给伊朗，以便伊朗能够指挥对该地区发动袭击。

泽连斯基此前曾表示，乌克兰军队在里海袭击了一艘俄罗斯军舰和用于运输与伊朗有关的军事物资的船只。

乌克兰总统随后在X网站上发表讲话称，基辅方面自7月初以来就记录到“俄罗斯卫星对海湾国家和驻扎在那里的美国军事设施进行积极的监视。这些图像随后出现在伊朗。”

泽连斯基说：“与此同时，俄罗斯卫星拍摄的这些地点的图像与伊朗的袭击之间存在明显的关联——无论是在袭击之前，为了做好准备，还是在袭击之后，为了评估造成的损失。”

他说，仅在 7 月 19 日和 20 日两天，俄罗斯卫星观测就包括了四个空军基地：两个在巴林，一个在约旦，一个在科威特。