Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi is pointing the finger at Israel, claiming it directed Ukraine to carry out a strike on an Iranian commercial ship in the Caspian Sea. According to Araghchi, the attack left one sailor dead and another injured, and he is demanding the international community take action against those he holds responsible.
Araghchi raised the allegations in separate phone calls with European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, following what Iran described as a Ukrainian strike that took place on Saturday.
Taking to social media platform X, Araghchi wrote: “Zelenskyy has attacked an Iranian commercial vessel, killing a sailor. A blatant UN Charter violation done at Israel’s behest to drag Europe into its war.”
He went further, adding: “In calls with EU High Representative Kallas and Foreign Minister Lavrov, [I] made clear that what the freeloader in Kyiv did cannot go unanswered.”
Notably, Araghchi offered no evidence to back up his claim that Israel played a role in the attack. Iran characterized the strike as an act of aggression and a violation of Article 2(4) of the UN Charter, warning that it could escalate the broader Russia-Ukraine conflict.
In his conversation with Kallas, Araghchi called on the EU, the UN Security Council, and the wider international community to take what he described as “decisive” steps to hold both the attackers and their backers accountable.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told a different story on Saturday, saying Ukrainian forces had targeted a Russian warship along with ships transporting military cargo tied to Iran in the Caspian Sea. Ukraine has not described any of the vessels it struck as commercial ships.
Zelenskyy also alleged that Russia has been providing Iran with satellite surveillance imagery of Gulf countries and U.S. military sites, saying the Russian images appeared to align with Iranian preparations for regional attacks and subsequent evaluations of those operations.
The two accounts remain deeply at odds: Iran insists the ship was a civilian commercial vessel, while Ukraine maintains the operation targeted ships carrying Iranian military cargo.
