Russia assisting Iran's Islamic regime, Zelensky says after Ukrainian attack on ship

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russia on July 25 of actively assisting Iran's regime, citing Russian satellite surveillance of Gulf states and U.S. military facilities that subsequently appear in Iran. Zelensky stated, "Since the beginning of July, we have recorded active Russian satellite surveillance of the Gulf states and US military facilities located there." He noted a correlation between this imagery and Iranian strikes, both before and after attacks. This accusation follows a Ukrainian attack on an Iranian ship in the Caspian Sea, which Iran claims killed a sailor and prompted threats of missile attacks against Ukraine. Yaroslav Trofimov of The Wall Street Journal commented that "the two wars have officially merged," referring to the conflict in Ukraine and U.S./Israeli strikes on Iran. Ukraine claims it targeted vessels transporting military cargo between Russia and Iran in the Caspian Sea, while Iran condemned the attack as a violation of the UN Charter and asserted its right to self-defense.