Iran had been considering a strike on a seaport in Ukraine in response to a Ukrainian attack on an Iranian vessel, but diplomatic efforts have so far defused the situation, reports The New York Times, citing unnamed Iranian and Western officials.
According to the report, some officials briefed on intelligence said they had expected Iran to launch a ballistic missile with a small warhead at Ukraine, taking a “symbolic step” but causing relatively little damage. Other officials said the target was likely to be one of Ukraine’s Black Sea ports.
The publication notes that any missile fired from Iran at Ukraine would have led to a dramatic escalation and could have triggered a wider war, given the tensions between the two countries over Iran’s alliance with Russia.
Iranian officials said they had hoped the conflict would end with their retaliatory strike, but Western officials warned that it was difficult to predict how Ukraine would respond.
On 25 July, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Arakchi took to social media platform X to accuse Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of striking an Iranian merchant vessel, resulting in the death of a seafarer, stating that this “cannot go unanswered”.
Following this, Zelenskyy stated that Iran had, in effect, already attacked Ukraine by providing assistance to Russia in the war.
On 28 July, Acting Foreign Minister Andriy Sibiga telephoned Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Arakchi “for a frank conversation”, during which he emphasised the need to refrain from any actions that could lead to escalation, as well as to cease all support for Russia’s war against Ukraine.
“Diplomacy is about speaking frankly, even when the conversation is difficult. I emphasised that our aim is to avoid unnecessary escalation. I reiterated that all of Ukraine’s actions are aimed solely at defending our country from Russian aggression and have never been intended to attack civilian vessels or people. This also applies to Iran’s claims regarding the death of one of its citizens and damage to a civilian vessel that was targeted during the recent incident,” the official wrote on social media platform X.
Sibiga added that Ukraine’s aim is “to counter Russian aggression, which is the root cause of all incidents, and that it is Russia that bears full responsibility for all provocations and casualties”.
Following the conversation, Arakchi noted that Sibiga had described the attack on the cargo ship as unintentional. “Iran is also not seeking escalation, but has made it clear that any attack on our citizens or interests is unacceptable,” Arakchi wrote on social media, adding that “compensation must be paid for the losses”.
This conversation took place against the backdrop of social media reports claiming that Iran is allegedly preparing to attack Ukraine in the near future. Andriy Kovalenko, head of the Centre for Countering Disinformation, wrote that there is as yet no official information regarding Iran’s intention to launch missile strikes against Ukraine.