Jaishankar breaks silence on sinking of Iranian warship IRIS Dena and docking of IRIS Lavan

The IRIS Lavan, which participated in the international fleet review, had earlier docked in Kochi after technical problems arose. Iran had contacted India days before the Iris Dina incident in southern Sri Lanka.

Read also | IRIS Dena was ‘unarmed, unloaded’ on her way back from India when US attacked: Iran

The ship was in the region as part of the Iranian naval presence for the International Fleet Review and Milan 2026, held from February 15 to 25. India approved the berthing request on March 1, and the ship’s 183 crew members are currently staying at naval facilities in Kochi.

Speaking at the Raisina Dialogue, Jaishankar said: “I also support UNCLOS and international law… We received a message from the Iranian side that one of the ships, which was supposedly the closest to our border at that time, wanted to enter our port. They were reporting that they were having problems. And so, what I remember is that this was the 28th, and on the 1st, we said, ‘Okay, you can come in.’ It took them a long time.” After a few days of sailing, the ship docked at Kochi. And obviously the people on the ship, a lot of them were young students, which is my understanding, they got off, you know, at a facility nearby… and when they got off and came here, it was a completely different situation.”

He added: “They were coming to review the fleet, and then they somehow fell on the wrong side of events. So for us, when this ship wanted to come, that too in the face of difficulties, I think it was the humanitarian thing to do. And I think we were guided by that principle. And to some extent, among the other ships, it was clear that one of the other ships had a similar situation in Sri Lanka, and made the decision that they did, but unfortunately one did not. So I think we really approached it from a somewhat humanitarian point of view, other than Legal issues, you know, I think we did the right thing.

In the case of the IRIS Dena, the Indian Navy launched search and rescue operations after receiving a distress call from the ship at the Marine Rescue Coordination Center (MRCC) in Colombo. The Navy has deployed a long-range maritime patrol aircraft to support the Sri Lanka-led search operation.

A total of 87 people were killed in the sinking of the IRIS Dena. At the time of its sinking, the Iranian warship was equipped with heavy guns, surface-to-air missiles, anti-ship missiles and torpedoes. It was also carrying a helicopter, as mentioned in an earlier HT report. However, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Saeed Khatibzadeh later said that the IRIS Dena was “unarmed and unloaded” during its return voyage after participating in naval exercises in India.

“There are a lot of discussions on social media about this… Please understand the reality of the Indian Ocean. Diego Garcia has been in the Indian Ocean for the last five decades… The fact that there are foreign forces stationed in Djibouti happened in the early 2000s. Hambantota came into being during this period,” he said.

The Minister also called for attention to the safety of commercial ships operating in waters that may be affected by the conflict.

“Indians are a large segment of people who operate commercial ships. Every time there is an attack on a ship carrying goods, it is very likely that a part of the ship is operated by Indians… We must give great importance to this because we have seen deaths in the last few days… There must be adequate recognition in the country of the interests of our people and merchant seafarers and what we can do to protect them,” he said.

He added: “Our approach to the crisis is driven by the fact that we have between 9 and 10 million people living in the Gulf. Their well-being is a factor that is no less important than commercial shipping… Countries have their own interests, economic or energy concerns, and of course, our policies will take all of that into account. I felt that the merchant marine part was not given much importance.”