The Iranian regime is demanding compensation from Ukraine for a strike against an Iranian ship in the Caspian Sea in July.
Ukraine has said the attack was an accident, although President Volodymyr Zelensky has also strongly implied the ship was carrying Iranian drone weapons to Russia for use against Ukraine.
The attack took place in the Caspian Sea on July 25, when Ukraine initially announced drone strikes against two Russian ships loaded with “military cargo from Iran.”
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The Iranians claimed one of the ships was theirs, a civilian vessel carrying a load of iron from Russia to an Iranian port. Iran said one sailor aboard the ship was killed in the strike, and two were injured.
Iran was infuriated by what it called a “hostile and criminal” act of “terrorism,” summoning the Ukrainian charge d’affaires in Tehran to lodge a formal protest. The Iranians accused Ukraine of attempting to connect the Russia-Ukraine war to the U.S.-Iran conflict and drag European powers into the latter.
Zelensky stood by the attack at first, adding that not only was Iran supplying Russia with drone weapons, but Russia was reciprocating by providing Iran with “active Russian satellite surveillance of the Gulf states and U.S. military facilities located there.”
“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 said.
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Ukraine’s ambassador to Israel, Yevgen Korniychuk, claimed the Iranian ship was ferrying drone and missile components from Iran to Russia, not civilian cargo.
On July 28, the leftist newspaper New York Times (NYT) reported that Iran contemplated launching a ballistic missile at a Ukrainian seaport in retaliation, intended to “make a symbolic point but cause relatively little damage.”
The Iranians were reportedly talked down from this retaliatory action by diplomats, who warned that Ukraine’s response to a missile attack might be more than Tehran bargained for. Some Ukrainian analysts also felt it would be a mistake for Kyiv to get embroiled in another conflict while it was still fending off the Russian invasion.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi had a phone conversation with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, who told him the strike on the cargo ship was “unintentional.” Sybiha had previously dismissed Araghchi’s accusations against Ukraine as “Iranian lies” in a social media post.
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On August 10, Iran jolted the uneasily resolved dispute back to life by dismissing Ukraine’s claim of accidental targeting, and demanding reparations for the cargo ship bombing.
“We still believe that we have not been convinced by the Ukrainian side’s claim that this action was unintentional,” said Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei.
“They must certainly compensate us. Naturally, if they do not compensate us, we will seek compensation ourselves,” he said.
Iran’s ambassador to Russia, Kazem Jalali, said on Wednesday that Ukraine has not paid reparations for its “act of terrorism” yet, but “negotiations” are still in progress.
“Ukraine’s European and American supporters must also accept their responsibility for Kyiv’s actions and hold them accountable,” he added.