Days before the Iranian warship Iris Dina was hit by a US torpedo off the coast of Sri Lanka, the Indian government gave approval for another Iranian ship, the Iris Lavan, to dock at the port of Kochi in southwest India, sources said on Friday.
The IRIS Lavan docked in Kochi port on March 4, after receiving a request from Tehran on February 28, when the conflict between the United States and Iran began.
The sources said that the government received an urgent docking request from the ship on February 28, after technical problems developed. Approval was granted for the Iranian ship the next day.
Read also | IRIS Dena was ‘unarmed, unloaded’ on her way back from India when US attacked: Iran
India has also granted asylum to 183 crew members on board the ship and they are now safe in India. The crew members were accommodated at naval facilities in Kochi.
“IRIS LAVAN has since docked in Kochi on March 4. In this context, its 183-member crew is currently being accommodated at naval facilities in Kochi,” the source told Hindustan Times.
The approval to dock with the IRIS Lavan comes days before a US submarine collided with the IRIS Dena off the Sri Lankan coast on March 4, intensifying the US-Iranian conflict and escalating tensions in the Middle East. The accident killed 87 crew members of the IRIS Dena, while Sri Lanka rescued more than 30 sailors.
The Indian Navy has deployed INS Tarangini and INS Ikshak, along with maritime patrol aircraft, such as P8I aircraft, to assist in the Sri Lanka-led search and rescue operations for IRIS Dena.
Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Saeed Khatibzadeh said that the Iranian ship Iris Dina was “unarmed and unloaded” during its return voyage after participating in a naval exercise in India.
