Armed or unarmed? US and Iran fight over status of Iranian warship sunk by submarine

New Delhi — The United States and Iran have given sharply different accounts of the sinking of an Iranian warship in the Indian Ocean last week, with Washington rejecting Tehran’s claim that the vessel was unarmed and Iranian officials insisting it was acting in a non-combat role.

The United States Indo-Pacific Command on Sunday rejected Iran’s claim that the warship IRIS Dena was unarmed when it was sunk in a submarine attack in Sri Lanka’s international waters on March 4. In a statement on X, INDOPACOM called Iran’s claim that the vessel was unarmed “false”.

The response followed strong objections from Tehran, which has repeatedly characterized the warship as defenseless, saying it was returning home after participating in naval exercises.

An Indian Navy official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release information to the media, said the Iranian ship was “not completely unarmed” and had participated in the drills along with warships from other countries.

However, some experts have pointed out that unless scheduled for live-fire drills, visiting ships do not usually carry a full combat load of live munitions at such events. Even during the sea phase of the exercise, the ships usually carry only tightly-controlled munitions limited to specific drills, he says.

Rahul Bedi, an independent defense analyst based in India, said the ship may have used some limited non-aggressive ammunition during the naval exercise, but protocol required “participating platforms to be disarmed”.

“The pre-requisite for participating in such a parade or such function is that it (the ship) comes unarmed. That is the pre-requisite of the Indian Navy and it is the pre-requisite of most navies when they conduct such fleet reviews,” Bedi said.

Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Saeed Khatibzadeh on Friday said the warship sunk by a US torpedo was unarmed and that Washington had targeted a ceremonial vessel.

“That ship, at the invitation of our Indian friends, participated in an international exercise. It was ceremonial. It was unloaded. It was unarmed,” he told reporters in New Delhi.

According to American and Iranian officials, the IRIS Dena was hit and sunk by a torpedo fired by a US submarine in the Indian Ocean near Sri Lanka on March 4. Sri Lanka Navy rescued 32 sailors and recovered 87 bodies.

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth described the IRIS Dena as a “prize ship” and said it died a “quiet death”. Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi described the attack as an “atrocity at sea” and emphasized that it was a “guest of the Indian Navy”.

Controversy over whether the vessel was armed has heightened tensions over the incident, which occurred on its way back from a multinational naval exercise in India, and has raised questions about whether it was operating in a non-combatant role when it was attacked.

“Live firings and anti-aircraft firings were also carried out as part of surface gun shoots” by the participating ships, India’s defense ministry said in a statement after the exercise.

The sinking of the warship highlights how the US-Israel war with Iran is spreading beyond the Middle East.

Two other Iranian ships – IRIS Bushehr and IRIS Lawan – were docked in Sri Lanka and India after receiving assistance from the two countries.

——

Associated Press writer Aijaz Hussain in Srinagar, India contributed to this report.