Russian officials on Friday accused Israel of disrupting its trade with Iran after Israel Defense Forces targeted dozens of vessels at a major Caspian Sea port in northern Iran.
IDF officials said more than five of the Iranian warships at the port of Bandar Anzali in northern Iran carried anti-aircraft weapons that could be used to threaten aircraft involved in Operation Epic Fury and Operation Roaring Lion — the U.S.-Israeli campaign against the Islamic republic.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova accused the U.S. and Israeli coalition of “pouring fuel on the flames of the war they have unleashed in the Middle East.”
“That major Caspian port [Bandar Anzali] is an important trade and logistics hub that is actively used in Russian-Iranian trade, including for food deliveries,” Ms. Zakharova said in a statement. “The strike has affected the economic interests of Russia and the other Caspian states that maintain transport communications with Iran via that port.”
The Caspian Sea is the world’s largest inland body of water. It’s bordered by Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan to the east, Iran to the south, and Azerbaijan and Russia to the west.
“The regional countries and the international community have always regarded the Caspian Sea as a safe zone of peace and cooperation,” Ms. Zakharova said. “The aggressors’ reckless and irresponsible actions pose a threat of dragging Caspian states into an armed conflict.”
The Institute for the Study of War think tank reported that one of the targets at Bandar Anzali on Thursday was likely Shahid Tamjidi Offshore Industries, a subsidiary of the Iranian Defense and Armed Forces Logistics Ministry.
U.S. officials during the Biden administration said drones manufactured in Iran were shipped to Russia across the Caspian Sea and used against Ukraine as part of the war between Moscow and Kyiv.
Former National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the military trade flowed both ways across the Caspian Sea, with Russia providing Iran with advanced military technology like Su-35 fighter jets and attack helicopters in exchange for the drones.
Russia is calling for a ceasefire in the Iran war that is “increasingly affecting neighboring regions,” Ms. Zakharova said.
