By Reuters

Iran's Foreign Ministry condemned on Saturday a Ukrainian attack on an Iranian commercial vessel in the ​Caspian Sea, saying it resulted in an explosion that killed ‌one sailor and injured another.

Throughout the war in Ukraine, Kyiv has had to counter Iranian-designed drones deployed by Moscow. Kyiv has offered its drone interception expertise to countries in ​the Middle East that have suffered strikes from Iran.

Tehran described the ​attack on its vessel as an act of aggression and ⁠said it would defend its national interests and security, while accusing Kyiv ​of seeking to expand the war in Ukraine.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry summoned ​Ukraine's chargé d'affaires in Tehran to convey its protest over what it described as a "hostile and criminal" attack, Iran's state news agency IRNA reported.

The Iranian denunciation coincided with comments ​by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy that Kyiv had noted Russia was passing ​on its satellite observations in the Middle East to Iran to enable it to direct ‌strikes ⁠in the region.

Zelenskiy had earlier said that Ukraine's forces struck a Russian warship and vessels used for transporting Iranian-linked military cargo in the Caspian Sea.

The Ukrainian president, in subsequent remarks posted on X, said Kyiv had recorded ​since the beginning of ​July "active Russian satellite ⁠surveillance of the Gulf states and U.S. military facilities located there. These images subsequently appear in Iran."

"At the ​same time, 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," Zelenskiy said.

He said that on ⁠July ​19 and 20 alone, Russian satellite observation had ​included four air bases: two in Bahrain, one in Jordan and one in Kuwait.

Reporting by ​Enas Alashray in Cairo; Editing by Ron Popeski, Rod Nickel and Matthew Lewis

Source: Reuters