Iran claims it prepared strikes on Ukrainian targets following Caspian incident

Iran briefly prepared military strikes against three targets in Ukraine following an alleged maritime attack on an Iranian merchant vessel in the Caspian Sea, according to Mohsen Rezaei, a senior adviser to Iran's supreme leader. Rezaei stated during a television broadcast that the planned retaliatory action was canceled after Ukrainian officials reached out to provide explanations regarding the incident.

In a separate development, Ukraine's ambassador to the United Kingdom, Valerii Zaluzhnyi, cautioned that NATO is significantly behind Russia in modern drone capabilities. Zaluzhnyi stated the alliance relies on outdated strategies and estimated it would take NATO roughly 12 years to reach half of Russia's drone potential. Meanwhile, security analysts continue to highlight the growing cooperation between Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea as a major security challenge for Western nations.

Sources: Liga net, NEXTA, NV, Radio Svoboda, Ukrainska Pravda