New Delhi said the Iranian warship sunk by a US submarine near Sri Lanka had taken part in a naval exercise organized by India before leaving for international waters in the Indian Ocean on its way home.
The sinking underscored the scope of the US-Israeli war with Iran and spread throughout the Middle East and beyond. This sparked a debate in India about maritime security in the Indian Ocean – an area where New Delhi maintains a significant naval presence.
On Wednesday, Sri Lanka’s navy recovered 87 bodies and rescued 32 Iranian sailors from the IRIS Dena, which sank in international waters off the island nation’s coast – the rare instance of a submarine being torpedoed since World War II.
The Sri Lankan Navy said it responded to a distress signal from the IRIS Dena, but by the time it reached the site there was no sign of the vessel, only oil slicks and sailors floating in the water. The rescued marines were taken to a hospital in the town of Galle on Sri Lanka’s south coast.
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth described the sinking as a US-Israeli military operation against Iran extending beyond its borders, and IRIS described the Dena as a “prize ship”.
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US President Donald Trump has said that destroying Iran’s navy is one of the main objectives of the war.
A video released by the US Department of Defense on X showed the moment of the torpedo attack. The Iranian ship appears to have been hit by an underwater explosion, causing it to break apart, sending a large plume of water into the air.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghi accused the US Navy of committing “mischief at sea” in sinking the warship and said on social media on Thursday that the United States would “deeply regret” the attack.
The Ministry of Navy and Defense of India said that an Iranian warship participated in the International Fleet Review and Multilateral Naval Exercise Milan 2026 organized by the Indian Navy from February 15 to February 25 at the Visakhapatnam port.
An Iranian warship was seen sailing in the sea during an exercise in the Indian Navy’s February 17 post at X. Another picture showed several of its crew members posing on deck with the Iranian flag in the background.
Araghi stressed that the warship is a “guest” of the Indian Navy. The Indian government has yet to publicly comment on the incident.
India has long viewed the Indian Ocean as central to its security, with its navy conducting regular patrols and multinational exercises to protect key sea lanes used for global trade and energy transport. It has traditionally tried to maintain a careful diplomatic balance amid tensions between the US and Iran while emphasizing diplomacy and negotiations.
However, Indian opposition leaders on Thursday questioned the government’s lack of coverage of the incident, saying the fact that the warship sank so close to India’s maritime neighborhood warranted an official statement.
The opposition Indian National Congress party has called “silence” from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government.
“Conflict has reached our backyard, Iranian warship sunk in Indian Ocean. Yet PM says nothing,” Opposition leader Rahul Gandhi posted on X.
Former diplomat Kanwal Sibal, who served as India’s foreign secretary from 2002 to 2003, wrote in X that India was “politically or militarily aloof from a US attack” but its “responsibility lies on the moral and human plane”.
“America has overlooked India’s sensitivity,” Sibal said. “The ship was in these waters at India’s invitation.”
© 2026 The Canadian Press
(tags to translate)Iran
