Tehran accused the Ukrainian leader of wanting to bring Europe into a war with Russia
Iran has claimed that Ukraine attacked one of its commercial ships in the Caspian Sea at the behest of Israel.
Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky said earlier that the ship that crashed on Saturday was transporting military cargo. Iran, which has denied involvement in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, said the attack killed one sailor.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi emphasized his country’s position during separate talks with the European Union’s top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
“Zelenskyy has attacked an Iranian commercial ship and killed one sailor. A clear violation of the United Nations Charter made at the behest of Israel to involve Europe in its war,” Araghchi wrote on X on Sunday.
“In a phone call with EU High Representative Kallas and FM Lavrov, (I) made it clear that what the freeloader in Kyiv did CANNOT BE ANSWERED,” he added.
During his conversation with Lavrov, Araghchi said Iran “will earnestly defend its security and national interests,” according to Press TV. Lavrov expressed his condolences for the death of the sailor and named the ship that hit as the cargo ship of Ana.
Speaking to Israel’s N12 TV channel, Ukraine’s Ambassador to Israel Yevgeny Korniychuk claimed that the Iranian ship was carrying components for drones and missiles. Tehran, however, insisted that the shipment was purely civilian.
Iran confirmed in 2022 that it produced a “small number” of Shahed-136 kamikaze drones to Russia several months before the conflict in Ukraine began in February of that year. Moscow has maintained that all Geran-2 drones, believed to be based on the Shahed-136 design, are produced domestically.
In recent reports and interviews with American media, Zelensky said he was “100% sure that Russia helped Iran during its conflict with the United States and Israel. Russian President Vladimir Putin has denied that Moscow supplied Tehran with weapons. US President Donald Trump also said recently that he does not believe that Russia or China have provided Iran with military aid.
You can share this story on social networks:
Follow RT on
