A day after India said it had launched a search-and-rescue mission after a US submarine attacked an Iranian warship off the coast of Sri Lanka, government sources have revealed that India has allowed another Iranian vessel to dock in Kochi.
IRIS Dena, a Moudge-class frigate, was torpedoed by a US submarine 40 nautical miles off Galle in southern Sri Lanka on the morning of Wednesday, March 4, while it was returning to Iran after participating in the MILAn multilateral naval exercise. The ship sank as a result of the attack and Sri Lanka said it had recovered the bodies of 87 people.
Sources said on Friday that another ship, the IRIS Lavan, was also in the region in connection with the exercise and the International Fleet Review. Iran, they said, approached India to “take in” the amphibious ship on February 28, the day Israel and the US launched their strikes on the Middle-Eastern country, killing Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.