Kyiv warns Iran against escalation after Ukraine’s Caspian Sea attack

Kyiv claims its Caspian Sea strike targeted Russian warships, denying intent to harm civilian vessels or individuals.Ukraine’s foreign minister says ⁠he called his Iranian counterpart following Tehran’s denunciation of a Ukrainian drone attack on one ⁠of its ships, warning him against escalation.“I ⁠emphasised the necessity to refrain from any escalatory steps, as well as to end any support for Russia’s war against Ukraine,” Andrii Sybiha wrote on X on Tuesday of his conversation with Iran’s top diplomat, Abbas Araghchi. “This war is illegal and it must ‌end.”Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3New front in US-Iran war escalates as Houthis fire at Saudi oil facilitieslist 2 of 3After Strait of Hormuz and Red Sea, has Iran war now reached Caspian Sea?list 3 of 3‘Freeze the conflict’: Drones slow Kazakh oil flow amid Russia-Ukraine warend of listAraghchi confirmed the phone call and, according to remarks carried by Iranian media, said that Sybiha assured that the attack was “unintentional and that Ukraine had no desire to escalate tensions”.In a post on X, Araghchi wrote that “Iran does not seek escalation either, but made clear any attack on our citizens or interests is unacceptable”.“There must be restitution for losses,” he said.Araghchi said on Sunday that the Ukrainian attack on an Iranian commercial vessel in the Caspian Sea, which killed one sailor and injured another, “cannot go unanswered“. He also accused Israel of provoking the attack in an attempt to “drag Europe into its war”.Ukraine said it had targeted a Russian warship and vessels used for transporting Iranian-linked military cargo in the Caspian Sea.In ⁠his comments, Sybiha said Ukraine’s ⁠actions were “aimed solely at defending our country from Russian aggression and never intended to target civilian vessels or people”.In more than four years ⁠of conflict with Russia, Ukraine has faced barrages of Iranian-designed drones.