Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has forcefully rejected claims from Tehran that Iran remains uninvolved in the war, pointing to years of extensive Iranian military backing for Moscow’s invasion.
Diplomatic friction between the two nations escalated sharply following a long-range Ukrainian strike targeting an Iranian vessel operating in the Caspian Sea, an inland maritime route long used by Moscow and Tehran to transport military hardware away from international oversight.
Tensions increased after Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi warned that the attack near Russia’s Astrakhan port “cannot go unanswered.”
Tehran said the ship was carrying iron as a commercial cargo, but Ukrainian intelligence said it was transporting military equipment and drones to support Russian forces, which would violate international sanctions.
Responding directly to the escalating rhetoric from Tehran during an interview with Sky News, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy questioned Iran’s pretense of neutrality, emphasizing the early arrival of Iranian military hardware: “What do you expect, if Iran transferred new technologies to Russia from the first year of the war?”
Detailing the heavy volume of weapons exports deployed against Ukrainian cities and infrastructure, President Volodymyr Zelensky outlined the structural military support provided by Tehran, stating: “These were Shahed drones. They transferred thousands of these drones in the first year of the war. Then they issued licenses. What did they do? Did they attack us? I think so.”
In the fallout of the strike, Araghchi attempted to shift blame onto external adversaries, claiming without evidence that Ukraine had carried out the strike “at Israel’s behest” to drag Western nations into a broader regional conflict.
Escalating personal criticism of the Ukrainian leadership in a social media post, Araghchi called President Volodymyr Zelensky a “freeloading” leader and argued that the naval attack breached the United Nations Charter. In the days following the incident, Iranian officials summoned Ukraine’s chargé d’affaires in Tehran to lodge a formal protest and demanded financial compensation for damage to the vessel.
Although Russian President Vladimir Putin publicly says Moscow and Tehran have not made illegal arms deals, Russian officials in Astrakhan quickly helped the ship’s crew. Analysts point out that, despite Putin’s official stance, Western intelligence reports show Moscow depends on Iranian Shahed technology and secret shipping routes, and provides Tehran with satellite data to track Western military assets.
Refusing to back down in the face of Iranian threats, President Volodymyr Zelensky insisted that Ukraine’s defensive operations are a direct response to foreign military intervention, noting: “We must be careful. We must do everything to ensure that under no circumstances do we open a new front, but we must be honest. The Iranians and the North Koreans have already attacked us.”
Zelenskyy warned against trusting Moscow’s international partners as the conflict spreads to important logistics centers, saying: “We have to be ready for everything. Just be ready and understand that we cannot trust these people.”
Zelenskyy said that foreign weapons started arriving before Kyiv took any action, explaining: “At the very beginning, without any statements or any escalation on our part, the Iranians provided weapons, the North Koreans provided weapons – drones, missiles and 155mm artillery shells.”
Zelenskyy is trying to put more pressure on Russia so the war can end in the next year.
