🎙 Legal action underway over Ukrainian attack on Iranian ship ‘Anna’: Diplomat 📌 Moscow, IRNA – Iran...

🎙 Legal action underway over Ukrainian attack on Iranian ship ‘Anna’: Diplomat 📌 Moscow, IRNA – Iran’s Consul General in Russia’s Astrakhan, Ahmad Heydarian, says that legal action is underway against Ukraine over a drone attack on the Iranian vessel “Anna” in the Caspian Sea, which he condemned as an act of aggression. Heydarian told the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) that arrangements have been made to transfer the body of a martyred sailor killed in the attack back to Iran, and that the rest of the crew will return home once the procedures needed for the legal case are complete. ​ He said 23-year-old sailor Nima Moradi died from shrapnel wounds in the drone strike. ​ Heydarian said eight other crew members are Iranian nationals and two others are Indian nationals. ​ He said Russian authorities assisted in the emergency response, adding that on Saturday, the more severely injured crew members were transferred to hospital as a priority, while five others with lighter injuries were taken along with Moradi’s body to the port of Olya in the Astrakhan region in a second transfer. ​ The privately owned Iranian ship “Anna” was struck by a Ukrainian drone on Saturday morning in the Caspian Sea while carrying a cargo of rolled sheet iron. ​ Iran’s Ambassador to Russia, Kazem Jalali, told reporters Monday that the attack was a criminal act, saying the vessel was entirely civilian and, contrary to claims, was not carrying any military cargo. ​ He said the ship had stopped five kilometers from the mouth of the Volga River at the time of the attack to wait out a storm before continuing its route. ​ Jalali said the attack was the main topic of a Sunday phone call between the Iranian and Russian foreign ministers, during which Iran’s foreign minister stated that Iran fully reserves the right to respond. ​ Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei told a Monday press briefing, in response to a question from IRNA, that Ukraine’s backers bear responsibility for the attack, calling it illegal, a violation of the UN Charter and a dangerous act of adventurism that will not go unanswered by Iran. 📲 ​