Days before a US submarine sank IRIS Dena in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Sri Lanka, India gave safe harbour to another Iranian frigate. According to government sources, the ship’s crew has been put up at naval quarters in Kochi.
Days before a US submarine sank an Iranian frigate in the Indian Ocean near Sri Lanka, Iran had approached India seeking urgent docking for another naval vessel in Kochi after it developed technical problems, government sources said.
Tehran requested permission on February 28, the day the US and Israel launched joint strikes on Iran, for IRIS Lavan to dock at Kochi, saying the vessel had developed technical issues and required urgent attention. The ship was in the region for the International Fleet Review.
According to sources, approval was granted on March 1, and IRIS Lavan docked in Kochi on March 4. The vessel’s crew of 183 is currently being accommodated at naval facilities in the southern port city.
While IRIS Lavan got safe harbour in the nick of time, its sister vessel wasn’t so lucky. IRIS Dena, which was sailing back to Iran after participating in a military exercise at Visakhapatnam, sank in the Indian Ocean on March 4 after being struck by a torpedo fired from a US submarine. The attack sharply escalated tensions in the widening conflict involving Iran, the US and Israel.
The sinking occurred in international waters about 40 nautical miles off the southern Sri Lankan port of Galle. The warship issued a distress call at dawn reporting an explosion but had already sunk by the time Sri Lankan rescue ships reached the scene. More than 80 sailors perished when the frigate went down.
Facing flak for apparently not aiding the Iranian ship that had been its guest, the Indian Navy clarified what had transpired on the day of IRIS Dena’s sinking. In a statement on Thursday, the Navy said it launched search-and-rescue operations after receiving the distress signal from the frigate.
A long-range maritime patrol aircraft was deployed to speed up search efforts already underway by Sri Lankan authorities, while another aircraft equipped with air-droppable life rafts was kept on standby.
INS Tarangini, which was operating in the vicinity at the time, was diverted to assist in the rescue mission. Another vessel, INS Ikshak, sailed from Kochi to support the search operations and remains in the region to help locate missing personnel as a humanitarian measure, the Navy said.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi had condemned the sinking of the frigate, calling it an “atrocity at sea” in a post on X. He said the ship, carrying nearly 130 sailors, had been struck without warning in international waters, about 2,000 miles from Iran’s shores.
Araghchi described IRIS Dena as a “guest of India’s Navy” and warned that the US would “bitterly regret” setting such a precedent.
