Iranian officials are treating the July 25 Ukrainian attack on Iranian vessels as unprovoked and are warning the Kiev regime that Iran will respond.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi spoke by phone with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, this morning. Among other things, he called for thwarting the Kiev regime’s reckless actions, referring to the Ukrainian attacks on Iranian vessels in the Caspian Sea, the Russian foreign ministry said, reported TASS.
“Araghchi thanked the Astrakhan authorities for providing assistance to the crew of the attacked vessel and stressed the need to put a stop to such reckless actions by the Kiev regime,” it said.
To convey that message directly to the Kiev regime, the Iranian Foreign Ministry summoned the Ukrainian chargé d’affaires in Tehran to protest the attack. During the meeting, the Iranian official conveyed the Islamic Republic’s strong protest over the hostile and criminal act, reported Tasnim.
He also told the Ukrainian diplomat that the attack on an Iranian commercial vessel in the Caspian Sea was not only a violation of the fundamental principles of the UN Charter and an act of aggression, but also posed a clear threat to the security of all Caspian littoral states.
He stressed that the Ukrainian government must be held accountable for the attack and bring those who ordered and carried out the strike to justice. He also emphasized that the Islamic Republic of Iran will firmly defend its national security and interests, and will not leave unanswered any aggression against the lives and property of its citizens.
Ebrahim Azizi, chairman of the National Security and Foreign Policy Commission of the Iranian Parliament, wrote on his social media account that “Any attack on Iran always comes with a cost, and this remains true to this day,” reported Mehr News. He added that “the United States and Israel are well aware of this matter,” and that “Ukraine will probably soon realise that Iran will not leave actions against it without a response.”
“The list of those who have miscalculated is still growing,” Azizi wrote.
Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine’s acting president, appears to be going all in against Iran. He wrote on X on July 25 that “I will instruct our intelligence to share with our partners the information we have regarding Russia’s new assistance to the Iranian regime. Since the beginning of July, we have recorded active Russian satellite surveillance of the Gulf states and US military facilities located there.”
He added that “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.”
He went on to say that “On July 19 and 20 alone, four air bases fell within the area of interest of Russian satellites—two in Bahrain, one in Jordan, and one in Kuwait.”
Yaroslav Trofimov, chief foreign affairs correspondent of The Wall Street Journal, wrote on X that “the two wars have officially merged. Iran says a Ukrainian drone attack on its ship in the Caspian has killed a sailor. Ukraine earlier said it was targeting vessels ferrying arms between Russia and Iran on the Caspian Sea.” Part of the merging of the conflicts is Zelensky’s claim that Ukraine targeted a ship transporting Iranian military items to Russia.
