Araghchi says Ukraine's attack on an Iranian commercial vessel in the Caspian Sea cannot go unanswered; one sailor killed

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has said that Ukraine's attack on an Iranian commercial vessel in the Caspian Sea "cannot go unanswered", describing it as a violation of the United Nations Charter. According to Iran's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the attack took place on Saturday, 25 July 2026, causing the vessel to explode, killing one sailor and injuring several others. Tehran summoned Ukraine's charge d'affaires and called the strike a "hostile and criminal act".

Ukraine said it had targeted a Russian warship and vessels used to transport Iranian linked military cargo. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on X that Ukraine had achieved "very strong results" with long range strikes in the Caspian Sea. Iran's Foreign Ministry responded that Iran "has never intervened in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine".

On Monday, 27 July, Ebrahim Azizi, head of the Iranian parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, wrote on X that the attack was "miscalculated". Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov offered condolences; according to a Russian Foreign Ministry statement, the vessel had begun its journey in Russia's Astrakhan region. The Caspian Sea is one of the main corridors for Iran's trade with Russia.