Iran threatened to retaliate after Ukraine launched its first known strike against an Iranian target, bringing two major wars together and raising fears of further escalation.
Tehran’s foreign ministry said on Sunday that an attack on what it described as a commercial vessel in the Caspian Sea had killed one sailor and wounded another. The statement “strongly condemned” the attack and warned it could “inflame and expand the ongoing conflict”.
Ali Nikzad, Iran’s deputy speaker of parliament, said “this reckless act of the Ukrainian government will not go unanswered”.
Ukrainian officials confirmed the attack but said it was against a ship carrying weapons and was part of a wider campaign.
Ukraine’s Ambassador to Israel, Yevgen Kornitschuk, said: “The ship we attacked in the Caspian Sea contained components for drones and missiles that were on their way to Iran – not civilian cargo, as Iran claimed.
