Ukraine’s foreign minister says ⁠he called his Iranian counterpart following Tehran’s denunciation of a Ukrainian drone attack on one ⁠of its ships, warning him against escalation.

“I ⁠emphasised the necessity to refrain from any escalatory steps, as well as to end any support for Russia’s war against Ukraine,” Andrii Sybiha wrote on X on Tuesday of his conversation with Iran’s top diplomat, Abbas Araghchi. “This war is illegal and it must ‌end.”

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Araghchi confirmed the phone call and, according to remarks carried by Iranian media, said that Sybiha assured that the attack was “unintentional and that Ukraine had no desire to escalate tensions”.

In a post on X, Araghchi wrote that “Iran does not seek escalation either, but made clear any attack on our citizens or interests is unacceptable”.

“There must be restitution for losses,” he said.

Araghchi said on Sunday that the Ukrainian attack on an Iranian commercial vessel in the Caspian Sea, which killed one sailor and injured another, “cannot go unanswered“. He also accused Israel of provoking the attack in an attempt to “drag Europe into its war”.

Ukraine said it had targeted a Russian warship and vessels used for transporting Iranian-linked military cargo in the Caspian Sea.

In ⁠his comments, Sybiha said Ukraine’s ⁠actions were “aimed solely at defending our country from Russian aggression and never intended to target civilian vessels or people”.

In more than four years ⁠of conflict with Russia, Ukraine has faced barrages of Iranian-designed drones.