Ukraine Hits Iranian Ship After Influencer Visit

The Ukrainian military may have just implicated itself in the Iran War after its recent decision to strike an Iranian ship in the Caspian Sea.

A Ukrainian strike hit the Iranian-flagged dry cargo vessel Ana at about 3 a.m. local time Saturday, killing one crew member, Chinese media outlet Xinhua reported, citing Iran’s Foreign Ministry. The strike took place only one day after a prominent anti-Iran commentator had an interview with the President of Ukraine.

Officials from the Iranian regime have begun leveling threats against Ukraine since this strike took place, reminding the Ukrainians that their country is within range of Iranian ballistic missiles.

“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Iran strongly condemns the Ukrainian regime’s attack on an Iranian commercial vessel in the Caspian Sea in the early hours of Saturday, 25 July, which resulted in an explosion aboard the ship, killing one sailor and injuring another,” an official Iranian press release from Saturday says. “This act constitutes a violation of Article 2(4) of the Charter of the United Nations and amounts to an act of aggression that could further inflame and expand the ongoing conflict.”

The White House, U.S. European Command, the Embassy of Ukraine in Washington, the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Defence Intelligence of Ukraine did not respond to a request for comment. U.S. Central Command declined to comment.

Middle East Spectator, a popular pro-Iranian account on Telegram, posted a map intended to remind the Ukrainian military that Iranian ballistic missiles have the range to reach Ukraine.

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One expert warned the Daily Caller News Foundation that this is a highly volatile situation that could join the Russo-Ukrainian War and the Iran War into a larger, globalized, multi-front conflict.

“I think this is a very dangerous situation with significant potential for escalating into much more direct conflict on multiple fronts between the United States and its partners and allies, and Russia, and I think that is something the Ukrainians would like to see,” the director of grand strategy at the Quincy Institute, George Beebe, told the DCNF.

Beebe even warned that this could rapidly escalate into a scenario where nuclear weapons could be used.

“I think they would like to see this become in Washington regarded as a an operation against Russia and Iran, in which the Ukrainians are fighting on our side, and that’s a fraught situation because the the big danger is that the U.S. and Russian militaries begin fighting each other directly rather than through partners and proxies, and that kind of direct military contemplation has enormous risks of escalation to the nuclear level,” Beebe told the DCNF.

Russian officials have also begun to weigh in on the Ukrainian move to strike Iranian shipping.

“Sergey Lavrov expressed sincere condolences over the death of an Iranian sailor in a July 25 Ukrainian drone attack on the Iranian-owned dry cargo vessel Ana, which had departed Astrakhan carrying civilian cargo,” according to the official Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Telegram. “The Russian Foreign Minister asked that words of support be conveyed to the victim’s family and wished the injured a speedy recovery.”

“Imagine that just as a thought exercise, the Iranians did fire a ballistic missile at Ukraine,” Beebe told the DCNF. “Imagine that it lands not in Ukraine but on a NATO ally, or it gets shot down, but fragments of the missile land on NATO territory. What happens in that situation? That is fraught with a lot of risk, and you could very quickly get into a situation where a NATO ally attempts to invoke Article Five.”

The Ukrainian strike on the Iranian ship is only one act in a long string of naval engagements in the Russo-Ukrainian War. The Ukrainian military has repeatedly struck shipping in the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea.

Ukrainian drone strikes on Russian shipping have been choking Russian grain exports in particular, Reuters reported on Friday. Russian retaliatory strikes on Ukrainian ports have nearly made Ukraine a de facto landlocked nation.

“Now they [the Ukrainian military] have gotten themselves into some trouble with some of their Caspian strikes … strikes against the Caspian Pipeline Consortium [have] gotten some U.S. companies quite unhappy,” Beebe told the DCNF. “I think the Kazaks are quite unhappy as well … the Ukrainians are trying to pivot away from strikes in the Caspian that upset the United States and its partners toward missions in the Caspian that we might be much more open to, like attacks against Iran.”

Ukraine has also repeatedly battered Russia’s Black Sea Fleet since the start of the Russo-Ukrainian War, causing significant damage and losses to Russian naval assets.

The Ukrainian military sank the guided-missile cruiser “Moskva,” flagship of Russia’s Black Sea fleet, on April 14, 2022, The Associated Press reported. Other notable damages and losses to the Russian navy from the war include the Alligator-class landing ship “Saratov,” two Karakurt-class missile corvettes “Askold” and “Tsiklon” and the minesweeper Valentin Pikul.

The Ukrainian strike on an Iranian ship may be a bid to push for increased support of Ukraine, Beebe told the DCNF.

“I think this is an effort on Zelensky’s part to set Ukraine up for when he comes to Washington tomorrow for Lindsey Graham’s funeral,” Beebe told the DCNF. “He is, I think, hoping for and expecting a meeting with President Trump. I don’t know that anything has been announced yet, but there’s no question that he will want that kind of meeting, and my guess is that he wants to use that meeting to make his best case that U.S. support for Ukraine.”

It is also notable that the Ukrainian attack on an Iranian ship was closely timed with the visit of a prominent anti-Iran commentator, Laura Loomer.

Loomer is a well-known pro-Israel advocate who used to have anti-Ukraine views in the past; however, her viewpoint recently changed on Ukraine shortly before the Ukrainian military attacked the Iranian ship.

Loomer did not respond to a request for comment.

“Ukraine should surrender,” Loomer said in an X post on Feb. 13, 2023. “PS: We want our $120 BILLION back. I want Americans to have resources. I don’t care about Ukraine. America wants a refund ASAP. Tired of Zelensky snorting our tax $. He looks high as a kite.”

“Yeah… Zelensky is such a ‘brave Jew’ that he armed Neo Nazi militias in Ukraine w/ weapons paid for by our tax payer dollars,” Loomer said in an X post on Dec. 21, 2022. “Nobody is buying this crap. He’s not brave either. He’s a criminal & the “aide” to Ukraine is a money laundering ponzi scam. Wake up! Open your eyes.”

However, Loomer did acknowledge her previous statements and sudden shift in an X post on July 20, 2026.

“I did say these things about Ukraine and Zelensky and I am not deleting my posts because I’ve realized, I was wrong,” Loomer said in the July 20 X post. “I was living in a media echo chamber and I was propagandized by Russian media on social media to believe those things.”

Loomer even had an interview with the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, on Friday, according to a video she posted on X.

Some individuals on social media have even speculated that Loomer’s visit could be part of a paid campaign to spread support for Ukraine. However, these claims currently remain speculative and unsupported.

Loomer’s visit to Ukraine may be in response to Candace Owens’ visit to Russia, Ukrainian Journalist and Opposition Politician Anatolii Sharii said in an X post.

Sharii also implied that Loomer may have been paid $2 million for her visit in an X post on Thursday.

“I am getting really tired of seeing American influencers, you know, people like Tucker Carlson, people like Candace Owens, and people like Nick Fuentes, and people you know, who are members of the Woke Reich, I’m getting really sick and tired of these people claiming that Russia is the bastion of freedom and bastion of hope and the ideal state for Christianity, Loomer said in an X post on Wednesday.

Loomer went on to say that Ukraine is an ally of Christianity.

Notably, Ukraine has been repeatedly accused of oppressing Christians and closing churches throughout the duration of the Russo-Ukrainian war.

“Leaders and parishioners of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) showed me the dark, cramped basements where they now hold liturgy—after their church was violently seized last year,” Daily Caller Reporter Derek VanBuskirk said in an X post on Aug. 23, 2025. “St. Michael’s Cathedral in Cherkasy became ground zero. Twice, masked and unmasked men with crowbars and tear gas stormed the cathedral, according to UOC witnesses. Parishioners were beaten, left with broken bones, and some still bear the injuries.”

A video posted by VanBuskirk on X graphically shows the violence perpetrated against Christians in Ukraine.

One viral video on X even allegedly depicts an Orthodox priest being ‘pressganged’ or forced into military service through kidnapping by elements of the Ukrainian military.

“A priest of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) was dragged by his hair and beard into an unmarked van by agents of Ukraine’s Territorial Recruitment Center (TRC),” the Union of Orthodox Journalists of America said in an X post on Saturday.