According to a report by Kyiv Post on Monday, July 27, 2026, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has dismissed Iran’s warning of retaliation following a recent Ukrainian strike on an Iranian vessel in the Caspian Sea, arguing that Tehran has effectively been involved in the war since the early stages of Russia’s full-scale invasion by supplying Moscow with weapons and military technology.

Speaking in an interview with Britain’s Sky News, Zelensky responded to concerns about the possibility of an Iranian military response, insisting that Iran had already played a direct role in the conflict through its extensive support for Russia.

“What do you expect, if Iran transferred new technologies to Russia from the first year of the war?” Zelensky said, according to Ukrainian broadcaster Suspilne.

“These were Shahed drones. They transferred thousands of these drones in the first year of the war. Then they issued licences. What did they do? Did they attack us? I think so,” he added.

His comments came after Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi warned that Ukraine’s attack on what Tehran described as a commercial vessel in the Caspian Sea “cannot go unanswered.”

Iranian authorities said the strike triggered an explosion aboard the vessel, killing one sailor and injuring another. Tehran condemned the operation as a “hostile and criminal” act and summoned Ukraine’s chargé d’affaires to formally protest the incident.

Ukraine, however, maintains that the targeted vessel was not engaged in ordinary commercial activity.

According to Zelensky, Ukrainian forces struck ships involved in transporting military cargo linked to cooperation between Iran and Russia. Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) also stated that one of the vessels targeted had been carrying military supplies between the two countries.

Araghchi accused Kyiv of carrying out the attack “at Israel’s behest” in an attempt to widen the conflict and draw European nations deeper into the war. However, the Iranian minister did not provide evidence to support the allegation.

Writing on social media platform X, Araghchi described Zelensky as a “freeloader” and accused Ukraine of violating the United Nations Charter through the attack. He also revealed that he had discussed the incident with European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, reiterating that Ukraine’s actions would not go unanswered.

Lavrov expressed condolences to Iran over the casualties and said officials in Russia’s Astrakhan region, from where the vessel reportedly departed, had provided assistance to the crew following the incident.

Despite the growing diplomatic tensions, Tehran has continued to deny direct involvement in Russia’s war against Ukraine, insisting that it has “never intervened” in the conflict.

Zelensky strongly rejected that claim, pointing to Iran’s supply of Shahed attack drones and drone production technology that has enabled Russia to launch repeated aerial assaults against Ukrainian cities and critical infrastructure since 2022.

Russia has since established domestic production of the Iranian-designed drones, manufacturing variants known as the Geran series, which have become a central component of Moscow’s long-range strike campaign.

Ukraine’s Defence Intelligence agency (HUR) reported last November that Russia had also begun testing the more advanced Iranian-made Shahed-107 drone in combat operations, using Ukraine as a battlefield to evaluate its performance against Western-supplied air defence systems.

While criticising Iran’s military cooperation with Moscow, Zelensky stressed that Ukraine does not want to create another theatre of conflict.

“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,” he said.

The Ukrainian leader added that both Iran and North Korea supplied Russia with weapons including drones, missiles and 155mm artillery shells without any prior escalation or provocation from Ukraine.

“We have to be ready for everything,” Zelensky said. “We cannot trust these people.”

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