India has been letting an Iranian naval vessel dock in its port at Kochi, with an Indian official calling it the “humane thing to do.”
An Indian government source told Reuters the Lavan docked at India’s southern port of Kochi on Wednesday. That’s the same day that a U.S. submarine sank the torpedoed the Iranian warship “DENA” off the coast of Sri Lanka.
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Speaking in New Delhi on Saturday, External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said Iran told New Delhi on Feb. 28 that a ship sailing by Indian waters was facing challenges. Tehran asked to enter an Indian port, and this request was approved on March 1.
Iran’s ask was “urgent as the vessel had developed technical issues,” Jaishankur said at the Raisina Dialogue in New Delhi.
“They were coming in for a fleet review and then they got in a way caught on the wrong side of events,” he said.
“We approached the situation from the point of view of humanity, other than whatever the legal issues were and I think we did the right thing,” Jaishankar said.
Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter, that 183 Iranian sailors will remain in India until the ship is fixed.
The sinking of ‘DENA’
One of the goals of the Iran war, which started on Feb. 28 with joint strikes by the U.S. and Israel, is destroying its navy, President Donald Trump and other military officials have previously said.
At a press briefing Wednesday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth addressed the U.S.’ sinking of DENA.
“An American submarine sunk an Iranian warship that thought it was safe in international waters,” Hegseth said. “Instead, it was sunk by a torpedo, quiet death.”
Iran’s Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi said the frigate was carrying almost 130 sailors.
Sri Lankan rescuers recovered at least 87 bodies, according to the BBC, as well as 32 sailors who survived.
Survivors of the attack were “seriously injured” and were taken to a hospital in the southern port of Galle, Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath said.
Araghchi vowed retaliation for the U.S. attack.
“Mark my words: The U.S. will come to bitterly regret precedent it has set,” Araghchi said.
