The Iranian warship torpedoed by a U.S. submarine within the Indian Ocean this week had departed Indian waters simply days earlier, finishing a port go to and multinational naval train hosted by New Delhi. The incident has ignited political controversy in India and left the federal government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and not using a public response.
Sri Lanka’s navy recovered 87 our bodies and rescued 32 survivors from the IRIS Dena as of Thursday, with round 10 sailors nonetheless unaccounted for. A second Iranian vessel entered Sri Lanka’s unique financial zone within the aftermath of the sinking, although officers haven’t recognized the ship or defined its presence.
India’s Train, Iran’s Ship
Train MILAN is India’s flagship biennial multilateral naval drill, designed to foster maritime cooperation amongst collaborating nations. The thirteenth version ran concurrently with the Worldwide Fleet Overview 2026 in Visakhapatnam from Feb. 15-25, drawing representatives from 74 nations and 18 international warships.
Iranian Navy Rear Adm. Shahram Irani attended and held talks with India’s chief of naval workers. Indian Protection Minister Rajnath Singh presided over the opening ceremony underneath the occasion’s theme, “United By Oceans.”
The IRIS Dena represented Iran in each occasions. She sailed out of Visakhapatnam when MILAN concluded Feb. 25 and was heading dwelling to Iran when a U.S. fast-attack submarine fired a single Mark 48 torpedo into her hull March 4, in worldwide waters roughly 25 miles south of Sri Lanka.
The U.S. Navy despatched no floor warship to MILAN. Its solely official presence was a P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol plane from Patrol Squadron 4. The guided-missile destroyer USS Pinckney had been slated to attend however was diverted to Singapore on Feb. 15 earlier than the train started, for causes the Navy has not publicly disclosed.
Three days after MILAN ended, the U.S. and Israel launched Operation Epic Fury. The IRIS Dena was nonetheless in transit on the time.
Responses From Tehran and Washington
Iranian Overseas Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi framed the sinking as an assault on a vessel that had been underneath Indian diplomatic safety.
“The U.S. has perpetrated an atrocity at sea, 2,000 miles away from Iran’s shores,” he wrote on social media. “Frigate Dena, a visitor of India’s Navy carrying nearly 130 sailors, was struck in worldwide waters with out warning. Mark my phrases: The U.S. will come to bitterly remorse the precedent it has set.”
The Pentagon provided a totally different view. Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Workers, described the strike at a Wednesday briefing as an indication of unmatched American navy functionality.
“To hunt, discover and kill an out-of-area deployer is one thing that solely the US can do at the sort of scale,” Caine mentioned.
U.S. officers have maintained all through Operation Epic Fury that Iranian naval vessels working in worldwide waters stay legitimate navy targets no matter current port calls.
The Debate in New Delhi
India’s silence has drawn sharp criticism domestically, significantly from opposition politicians who argue the Modi authorities is abdicating its obligations as a self-described internet safety supplier within the Indian Ocean.
Opposition chief Rahul Gandhi accused Modi of surrendering India’s strategic independence at a important second.
“The battle has reached our yard, with an Iranian warship sunk within the Indian Ocean,” Gandhi wrote. “But the Prime Minister has mentioned nothing. At a second like this, we’d like a gentle hand on the wheel. As an alternative, India has a compromised PM who has surrendered our strategic autonomy.”
Congress lawmaker Jairam Ramesh famous that Singh had personally inaugurated the train the IRIS Dena attended simply days earlier than her sinking.
“This U.S. motion has huge implications for India as properly and it’s surprising that there was no official response to it until now,” Ramesh wrote. “By no means earlier than has the Indian authorities appeared so timid and fearful.”
Criticism got here from exterior social gathering politics as properly. Former Indian Navy chief Arun Prakash mentioned New Delhi ought to formally convey its “deep concern and displeasure” over a strike that unfolded in its maritime neighborhood.
Former diplomat Kanwal Sibal argued the values underpinning MILAN had been undermined and claimed that train protocol bars collaborating ships from carrying ammunition, which might have left the IRIS Dena unable to defend herself when struck. That declare has not been independently confirmed.
The Stakes for India
India has cultivated ties with each Washington and Tehran, and the sinking has uncovered the issue of sustaining that stability. Indian officers have publicly famous that greater than 40 p.c of the nation’s oil imports transit the Strait of Hormuz, now an energetic fight zone.
India has additionally invested years in constructing MILAN right into a cornerstone of its maritime diplomacy, presenting itself as a stabilizing presence within the Indian Ocean. The IRIS Dena’s sinking days after departing that train places each of these positions underneath strain New Delhi has but to publicly acknowledge.
The IRIS Dena’s two Moudge-class sister ships, Jamaran and Sahand, have been destroyed earlier in Operation Epic Fury. U.S. officers say American forces have sunk greater than 20 Iranian naval vessels because the marketing campaign started, successfully dismantling Iran’s standard floor fleet.
Now, with the warfare increasing into the Indian Ocean and Iranian vessels allegedly nonetheless within the space, neighboring nations are watching nervously.
