Ukraine’s drone strike on an Iranian cargo ship in the Caspian Sea last weekend has escalated tensions between the two countries and highlighted the growing links between the separate conflicts they’re fighting.
Iran has vowed to respond to Saturday’s attack, which it said was against a commercial vessel and killed a sailor. Ukraine claimed the vessel was carrying military equipment between Iran and Russia.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said Tuesday he called his Iranian counterpart Abbas Araghchi for “a frank discussion” and stressed the need to “avoid unnecessary escalation.”
“Our goal is to counter Russian aggression, which is the root cause of all incidents, and it is Russia who bears full responsibility for all provocations and casualties,” Sybiha wrote on X.
Araghchi claimed Sybiha told him the strike was “unintentional” but said there “must be restitution for losses.”
The call came a day after Sybiha, in response to Tehran’s vows of retaliation, said Iran had “no standing to pretend to be a victim” while it continues to be “a direct accomplice to Russian aggression against Ukraine.”
Iran has been accused for years of supplying Russia with short-range missiles and drone technology that have been used by Russian forces against Ukraine. Canada has sanctioned Iranian businesses it has accused of facilitating the production and transfer of those weapons to Russia.
That assistance is now going both ways, Ukraine says, as Iran fights the United States and Israel in their own separate war.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned Sunday that Russia has been aiding Iran by capturing satellite imagery of U.S. bases in the Gulf region that later appear in Iran. He said there was a “clear correlation” between Russia’s images and subsequent Iranian strikes this month.
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“The purpose is clear,” Zelenskyy said. “None of us in the world should turn a blind eye to one very simple fact: evil always seeks ways to make things worse and spread further.”
The Institute for the Study of War has made similar assessments that Russia is helping Iran with target accuracy, citing U.S. media reports and European officials.
Zelenskyy on Tuesday met privately with U.S. President Donald Trump while in Washington for the funeral of U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina. The Ukrainian president said on X he and Trump discussed Patriot interceptor missile production and restarting peace talks, but did not mention if Iran’s alleged assistance was raised.
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth last week broadly acknowledged that Russia and China are “enabling some things Iran is doing” in its fight against the U.S.
On Monday, however, Trump downplayed any impact the potential Russian assistance was having in the war.
“I don’t think they’ve been doing it, certainly not at a high level,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One as he travelled to Michigan. “And if they have, it has been very un-impactful.”
Still, he said he would raise the issue with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Trump on Friday told reporters that both Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping have assured him personally they’re not “enabling” or supplying weapons to Iran, and “I trust them.”
Russia’s foreign ministry said Monday on Telegram that Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov offered “sincere condolences” over the Iranian sailor’s death in a call with Araghchi and criticized the “reckless actions by the Kiev regime.”
Could the wars converge?
Ukraine has sought to portray Iran and Russia as a combined threat to the U.S. It has also supplied anti-drone technologies and military expertise to Gulf nations, including Saudi Arabia, to defend against Iranian attacks.
Andrew Rasiulis, a former Department of National Defence official and military analyst, said in an interview that Ukraine’s strike on the Iranian cargo ship may be an attempt to curry favour with the Trump administration.
“It doesn’t move the military needle, but it creates political spin,” he said. “It puts Ukraine on the radar, advances its political cause … and it showcases Ukrainian technology and drones: ‘Look at what we can do.'”
Araghchi, the Iranian foreign minister, said Sunday on X that Ukraine’s attack “CANNOT GO UNANSWERED.” Although he softened his language after his call with his Ukrainian counterpart Sybiha on Tuesday, he reiterated that a response would come.
“Iran does not seek escalation either, but made clear any attack on our citizens or interests is unacceptable,” Araghchi posted.
Rasiulis said any Iranian response would likely be proportionate and not escalatory, meaning it would be relatively small-scale and akin to Tehran’s retaliatory strikes on U.S. bases in the Gulf region.
He doubted that such a response would be enough to draw in NATO, which has refrained from involving itself in the U.S. and Israeli war on Iran.
“Nobody here wants to see a major, counterproductive global war,” he said. “The Americans don’t want it, the Russians don’t want it, the Iranians don’t want it.
“Even the Ukrainians, I don’t think they want a wider war, they just want to curry favour with the U.S., to get the U.S. to give them more stuff so they can beat up on the Russians. But that’s kind of it, really.”
Not as though everyone else isnt already fighting Ukraines war for them anyway
Amazing how quickly the useful idiots forgot the rampant corruption
this sure does not sound like a county looking for peace .Zelenskyy and his corrupt government are raking in billions of dollars and giving other governments a kick back to hide in their own bank accounts of money they don’t have to prove where it went , they all need to be Infront of a firing squad to end this .
Look folks; the world is “going to hell in a handbasket”. Get your heads around this fact and enjoy life, don’t evaluate theories about who did what, where, when, what it means and who is involved. Enjoy your coffee.
Zelenskyy wants to get more money, he will gladly join another war with someone else covering the costs to stay revelant and to stay in power forever.
From the article: ISIS “remains the most significant threat to Western interests, with its enduring objective to seize territory to establish a caliphate,” it said.Which Global would not allow comments
The evolving situation in the Middle East could “expedite timelines associated with” the return of ISIS members to Canada, CSIS wrote.
On the subject of ISIS members returning to Canada:
The CSIS report agreed that some of them “would likely pose national security and public safety risks” unless Canada took “sufficient mitigation measures.”Unquote. Canada’s duty to ensure public safety is to much like the Uyghurs in China is forced confinement and re-educate after muslim radicals terrorized the city Urumqi by rioting resulting in approx. 200 deaths 1000 injured and in Beijing by bombing buses just to name a few with a total of 200 known to possibly 1000 attacks
Let’s see, the Ukranians sink a ship carrying Iranian drones and missiles to avoid them being fired at them. What a concept.
Say, there must be a war going on somewhere close by.
As an ardent Liberal Party supporter, socialist and Government Assistance Collector, I gotta agree with Ben on this one.As I warm the two potatoes I found growing in a ditch while watching the sun set through the mud stained curtains of my make shift shack ,I thought to myself “Yes, this dream of a Liberal Utopia with criminals and degenerates living off the backs of hard working taxpayers can be achieved as long as the Liberal Party continues in its direction. “
I quit working at shoprite and now I make $65-85 per/h. How? I’m working online! My work didn’t exactly make me happy so I decided to take a chance on something new… after 4 years it was so hard to quit my day job but now I couldn’t be happier.
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As long as we can fund both these wars to corrupt dictators I will be happy because I am a liberal and I would rather send money abroad plus once we wreck those countries we can bring in all the worst refugees and put them in hotels and on welfare!
Biggest Headline in the news across the world “Fauci Diaries”
Crickets from so called “news”
Dear Carney, Liberal Party of Canada, EU…and the rest:
I would not follow you to the bus stop.
The Russians would never think of helping Iran they’ve only been allies since 1991 as for China signing a 25 year co-operation agreement would never help Iran either even though they both share a common goal of opposing U.S. influence. The missing card is: what does putin have on trump that Donny is so scared of?
@Chris:
What in hell are you babbling about?
So long as Liberals know we are gping to fight them instead of their wars…
Ukraine begs for help, but expects other allies to not help each other out?