Iran has demanded full compensation from Ukraine for an attack on an Iranian vessel in the Caspian Sea, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said, Mehr reported on July 28.

The two ministers gave materially different accounts of the same call. Araghchi said his Ukrainian counterpart Andrii Sybiha had assured him the strike was unintentional. Sybiha's own account contains no such admission, saying only that Ukraine's actions had never been aimed at civilian vessels or people. Sybiha also said he pressed Iran to end its support for Russia's war, which the Iranian readout omits entirely. The gap matters because Tehran has said publicly that the attack cannot go unanswered.

Araghchi said Iran did not want an escalation either, but that he had told Sybiha plainly that any attack on Iranian citizens or interests was unacceptable and that the damage and losses must be made good in full.

Sybiha described the conversation as frank and said Ukraine's operations were directed solely at defending the country against Russia. He said Russia bore full responsibility for all provocations and casualties, and urged Tehran to avoid escalatory steps.

Ukrainian forces struck Iranian vessels in the Caspian Sea on July 25, killing one sailor and injuring another. Iran's foreign ministry summoned Ukraine's chargé d'affaires in Tehran, describing the attack as hostile and criminal, and said it breached Article 2(4) of the UN Charter.

Kyiv has said the vessels were carrying Iranian military cargo bound for Russia.

Araghchi raised the incident with EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, telling both that the attack could not go unanswered. He has accused Ukraine of acting at Israel's behest.

The call was the first direct contact between the two ministers. The last sustained ministerial exchanges between Tehran and Kyiv took place in 2022, between Dmytro Kuleba and Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, over Iranian drone supplies to Russia.

The Caspian strikes came during a pause in US air strikes on Iran that followed 13 consecutive nights of attacks.