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‘Caught on wrong side of events’: Jaishankar on IRIS Dena sunk by US; confirms India let another Iranian ship dock
The IRIS Lavan docked at the Kochi port on March 4, the same day that a US submarine torpedoed IRIS Dena in the Indian Ocean, killing at least 87 of its crew.
India's external affairs minister S Jaishankar has said that India “did the right thing” by allowing an Iranian warship, IRIS Lavan, to dock at the Kochi port amid the US and Israel’s war with Tehran and the sinking of another Iranian navy vessel, IRIS Dena, off the Sri Lankan port city of Galle.
The IRIS Lavan docked at the Kochi port in the Indian state of Kerala on March 4, the same day that a US submarine torpedoed IRIS Dena in the Indian Ocean, killing at least 87 of its crew members. The Sri Lankan Navy rescued the survivors and brought the bodies to its shores, while the Indian forces said they also responded but by then the Lankans had already taken the required action.
As for two other Iranian ships in the area, a request for IRIS Lavan’s docking was received by India on February 28, the day the war in West Asia began; and it was cleared the very next day. It docked at Kochi on March 4.
"I think we really approached it from the point of view of humanity, of other than whatever the legal issues were. I think we did the right thing,” Jaishankar said at the annual Raisina Dialogue in New Delhi.
The Sri Lankan authorities said on Friday they were escorting another Iranian naval ship, the Booshehr, to a harbour on the eastern coast and moving most of its crew to a navy camp near Colombo. That was apparently the third ship that S Jaishankar talked about at the Raisina Dialogue.
"These ships, because there were two others as well, were coming in for a fleet review, and then they got, in a way, caught on the wrong side of the events," Jaishankar said at the event.
US President Donald Trump has said destroying the Iranian navy is one aim of the war he and Israel launched against the Islamic Republic a week ago.
The US attack on the IRIS Dena happened in Sri Lanka's exclusive economic zone, 19 nautical miles off the coast, outside its maritime boundaries.
Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath told a conference in New Delhi that Sri Lanka was caring for 32 sailors from the Iranian frigate in accordance with Colombo's international treaty obligations.
Asked if Colombo was under pressure from the US not to repatriate the Iranians, Herath did not answer directly.
"We have taken all the steps according to international laws," Herath said.
The timeline of the IRIS Lavan’s docking in India
India received the docking request for the IRIS Lavan on February 28, the day the Iran war started, a source told Hindustan Times, adding that the request "was urgent as the vessel had developed technical issues".
The docking approval was given the very next day, on March 1.
"IRIS LAVAN has since docked at Kochi on 4 March. In this context, its crew of 183 are currently accommodated at naval facilities in Kochi," the source told HT.
