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Iran’s foreign ministry has said one person has been killed in a Ukrainian attack on an Iranian commercial vessel in the Caspian Sea.

In a message on Telegram, the ministry said: “Iran strongly condemns the Ukrainian regime's attack on an Iranian merchant vessel in the Caspian Sea on the morning of Saturday, July 3, which resulted in the ship exploding, the martyrdom of one sailor, and the wounding of another.”

The Iranian government blasted the alleged attack as “an act of aggression that could further inflame and spread the flames of war” and warned the country would “not hesitate to defend its national interests”.

The message accused Ukraine of an on-going “irrational and hostile approach toward the Islamic Republic of Iran” and called the supposed attack an “international violation” which was “dangerously seeking to spread the flames of war”.

The threat comes after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed today that Kyiv had struck ships carrying military cargo between Iran and Russia in the Caspian Sea, which connects the two countries.

In a post on X the Ukrainian leader said his military had “achieved very strong results with long‑range strikes in the Caspian Sea – including vessels used in military cargo shipments involving Iran, as well as a warship”.

Tehran said in the statement today called the strike a "criminal and provocative act" and, in a veiled threat to Ukraine's allies in the West, the ministry added that Ukraine's "adventurous actions and their consequences will be the responsibility of that regime and its supporters and instigators".

On Friday, President Trump issued a warning to China and Russia against providing weapons to Iran, saying “If they did, it would be very bad for them — certainly not in their best interests.”

“President Putin, despite the horrible war going on in Ukraine, told me that he would not sell weapons to Iran,” Trump wrote Friday on his Truth Social platform.

“I think I trust them,” he told reporters later at the White House.

In a follow-up post his evening Zelensky said he would instruct Ukraine’s intelligence services to share “the information we have regarding Russia’s new assistance to the Iranian regime.”

He continued: “Since the beginning of July, we have recorded active Russian satellite surveillance of the Gulf states and U.S. military facilities located there.

“These images subsequently appear in Iran. At the same time, there is a clear correlation between Russia’s satellite imagery of these sites and Iranian strikes – both before the attacks, in preparation for them, and afterward, to assess the damage inflicted.”