Russia says Ukrainian attack on Iranian ship should be treated as attack on Iran
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "Russia says Ukrainian attack on Iranian ship should be treated as attack on Iran")
This handout picture released by the Iranian Army Media Office on November 4, 2024 shows the arrival of Azerbaijani Navy ship (G129) to participate in a sea manuever between Iran and Azerbaijan in the Caspian Sea at Anzali port. Photograph: (AFP)
The Kremlin said Ukraine's drone strike on an Iranian vessel in Russia's Caspian Sea region should be treated as an attack on Iran, escalating tensions.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov on Tuesday declared that Ukraine's attack on an Iranian ship on the Caspian Sea should be treated as an attack on Iran itself. He described Ukraine’s actions as aggressive, and accused Kyiv of expanding the geographic reach of its “terrorist attacks”. He further added that threats from Ukraine “must be neutralised and definitively destroyed”.
“Ukraine is attacking various countries. Previously, Ukraine attacked Germany by blowing up a facility of critically important energy infrastructure. Now it has attacked Iran, striking an Iranian vessel,” said Peskov in a statement on Tuesday. He said that Iran is a sovereign country and capable of protecting its interests.
Peskov was referring to the Ukrainian long-range drone strikes on July 25 on the shipping assets in the Caspian Sea port of Olya, located in Russia's Astrakhan region. The strike targeted an Iranian commercial vessel, resulting in the death of a crew member and injuring others. He was also referring to a Ukrainian attack on the facilities and terminals of the Caspian Pipeline Consortium, suggesting that Kazakhstan was a joint owner of the consortium.
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky, however, claimed that Kyiv was not seeking to open a new front, and suggested that Iran had already attacked Kyiv by supplying Russia with attack drones.
"Iran, from the first year of the war, gave new technology to Russia. It was Shahed drones; they gave thousands of these drones. Did they attack us? I think yes," said Zelensky.
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Iran had previously threatened that an attack on Iran would not go unpunished. In a social media post on the platform X, Ebrahim Azizi, head of the Iranian parliament’s national security committee, said that the Islamic Republic of Iran does not leave debts unpaid. Iran had termed the incident an “act of aggression” and a violation of Article 2(4) of the UN Charter. Iran's Foreign Ministry also suggested that the attack could lead to the expansion of Russian military operations against Ukraine.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said in a social media post on the platform X that he held a conversation with Iran’s Foreign Minister Araghchi where he reiterated that Ukraine’s actions are aimed solely at defending our country from Russian aggression and never intended to target civilian vessels or people.
