Iran Says Ukraine Attacked Iranian Merchant Ship on Israel's Orders, Killing 1

[Financial News] Iran claimed on the 26th local time that Ukraine attacked an Iranian merchant ship in the Caspian Sea, killing one person. Tehran warned that it would respond, saying the attack was carried out at Israel's behest.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in a post on social media platform X that "Volodymyr Zelenskyy attacked an Iranian merchant ship, killing one crew member." He claimed the incident was "a clear violation of the UN Charter carried out at Israel's behest in an attempt to drag Europe into their war."
Araghchi added that he had held separate phone calls with Kaja Kallas, the European Union's top diplomat for foreign affairs and security policy, and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov regarding the attack on the merchant ship. He stressed, "We will never let this atrocity committed by Kyiv's freeloader regime go unanswered, and we made it clear that they will have to pay the appropriate price."
According to foreign media reports, the vessel in question was said to have departed from Russia's Astrakhan region on the Caspian Sea. Russia, which has worked closely with Iran in this year's war with Iran, said in a statement on its Foreign Ministry website on the 26th that it expressed condolences for the crew member who died in the attack. In the statement, Lavrov and Araghchi thanked the Astrakhan regional government for helping with rescue operations for the struck vessel and emphasized that "such adventurous actions by the Ukrainian government must be stopped." According to the statement, Araghchi told Lavrov that he would "continue diplomatic efforts to reduce tensions in the Middle East" in connection with the incident.

Qatar-based pan-Arab broadcaster Al Jazeera noted that the distance from Tehran, Iran, to Kyiv, Ukraine, is less than 2,000 kilometers. The outlet explained that, technically, it is within range of missiles or drones. It added, however, that Araghchi appeared to be making a retaliatory statement for political purposes.


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