On Wednesday, India allowed an Iranian warship, IRIS Lavan, to dock at the port of Kochi. The docking was approved after an urgent request from Tehran on February 28, due to technical issues with the vessel. Foreign Minister S Jaishankar stated that India acted out of humanity in allowing the docking of IRIS Lavan.
The specific nature of the technical issues that prompted IRIS Lavan to request docking has not been disclosed. IRIS Lavan has 183 crew members who are being accommodated at Indian naval facilities in Kochi. Whether IRIS Lavan participated in the naval fleet review hosted by India in February remains unclear.
Also on Wednesday, the US navy torpedoed and sank an Iranian warship, IRIS Dena, off Sri Lanka. IRIS Dena was returning from a multilateral naval exercise hosted by India when it was attacked. According to reports, the attack on IRIS Dena occurred in the exclusive economic zone of Sri Lanka, 19 nautical miles from the coast.
87 people died in the attack on IRIS Dena, and 32 sailors were rescued by the Sri Lankan navy. Donald Trump declared the destruction of the Iranian navy a key war goal after US and Israeli airstrikes on Iran last week. The exact timeline and details of the US-Israeli airstrikes on Iran that preceded these events are not specified.
In a related development, reports indicate that the Sri Lankan government allowed another Iranian warship, IRIS Bushehr, to dock for humanitarian reasons, with 208 crew members taken to Colombo. The current status and intentions of IRIS Bushehr and its crew in Sri Lanka are unknown. Foreign Minister S Jaishankar noted that foreign military presence in the Indian Ocean region is not new, citing examples like Diego Garcia, Djibouti, and Hambantota.
Reports suggest that India has faced criticism for not aiding the Iranian ship sunk by the US navy, which had been a guest of India's navy. The legal or diplomatic implications of India's decision to dock IRIS Lavan amid the ongoing conflict have not been detailed.