Iran summoned the Ukrainian chargé d'affaires in Tehran on the evening of 25 July following a Ukrainian military strike on an Iranian commercial vessel in the Caspian Sea early that morning, according to the Iranian foreign ministry. The attack killed one sailor and wounded several others, Iranian officials reported. The chargé was handed a strong protest and told that the strike constituted a violation of the UN Charter and an act of aggression, as well as a threat to the security of all Caspian littoral states. Iran demanded that Ukraine hold the perpetrators accountable and warned that it would not leave any assault on the lives or property of its citizens unanswered.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed the strike on his X account, stating that Ukraine had achieved “very good results” with long-range attacks in the Caspian Sea. He claimed that the targets included a Russian warship and vessels used to transport military cargo to Iran. The Iranian foreign ministry rejected any involvement in the Russia-Ukraine war, stating that it had never intervened in the conflict. It urged the UN Security Council, European countries and all UN members to note that Ukraine’s attack risked widening the war and insecurity.

Zelensky also alleged that Russia had been sharing satellite observations of the Persian Gulf and US military installations with Iran since early July, and that there was a clear correlation between Russian satellite imagery and Iranian attacks in the region. He specifically cited four air bases monitored on 19-20 July: two in Bahrain, one in Jordan and one in Kuwait. Iran’s foreign ministry did not address this claim in its statements about the vessel attack.

The European Union had previously placed Iran’s ports of Amirabad and Anzali, as well as the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Line, under sanctions, citing their role in transferring drones, military equipment and weapons support from Iran to Russia via the Caspian Sea. The attack on the Iranian commercial vessel occurred amid an ongoing exchange of long-range strikes between Ukraine and Russia, including a Russian ballistic missile attack near Kyiv on 24 July that killed at least ten people. The Iranian foreign ministry’s summons represents the first known diplomatic step after the incident, and no further moves have been announced.