Dmitry Peskov, asked about the reported Ukrainian strikes on vessels in the Caspian: "This is extremely dangerous. It is another round of escalation. We must continue to fight the Kyiv regime."
Iran said on 25 July that a Ukrainian strike hit an Iranian commercial vessel, killing one sailor. Accounts of the wounded differ: APA reports one injured, Iran’s foreign ministry says several. Tehran sent a protest note. Abbas Araghchi called the attack a violation of the UN Charter carried out at Israel’s behest and said it cannot go unanswered, and Ebrahim Azizi, who chairs the Iranian parliament’s national security commission, said Ukraine may come to understand that Iran does not let actions go unanswered. Volodymyr Zelensky has said Ukraine struck vessels used in military cargo shipments involving Iran, and a warship.
The Maritime Executive names the Russian Port Olya 2 and the dry cargo ship Begey among the vessels hit and describes the route as running from Bandar Anzali and Amirabad to Makhachkala, Kaspiysk, Olya and Astrakhan. Its account of what those ships were carrying is that outlet’s own and the desk has not verified it.
Baku and Tehran finished trading media bans on Monday. Iran added Azerbaijan’s state channel AzTV to its list of hostile media. Azerbaijan’s Media Development Agency then declared the activities of Iran’s Sahar TV and the Mehr News Agency illegal on Azerbaijani territory, citing the principle of reciprocity.
On the same days, and on the same water, the corridor was being demonstrated. nCa reported on 28 July the first electronic TIR transport connecting three countries under a single procedure: Azerbaijan to Turkmenistan to Uzbekistan, more than 1,200 km, crossing the Caspian by ship from the Port of Alat near Baku to Turkmenbashi and entering Uzbekistan at Farap. The eastbound run carried television and music equipment. Four westbound loads carried cotton, juice, water and confectionery.
Turkmenistan’s foreign ministry, the only littoral government to speak, said on 27 July that the Caspian is a sea of peace, harmony and good-neighbourliness, and named no state at all.
The Middle Corridor’s whole commercial case rests on the Caspian being the dull leg of the journey. Two things are now true of that water in the same week, and only one of them appears in the investment slide.