An Iranian warship has docked in the Indian port of Kochi, a government source in Delhi said on Friday. This comes after a US submarine torpedoed another Iranian frigate — IRIS Dena.
“IRIS Lavan… docked at Kochi on March 4. In this context, its crew of 183 is currently accommodated at naval facilities in Kochi,” the source said.
Like the IRIS Dena, the Iranian warship sunk by a US submarine on Wednesday off the coast of Sri Lanka, IRIS Lavan had also been part of a naval fleet review off India’s port city of Visakhapatnam.
“Days before the IRIS Dena incident south of Sri Lanka, India was approached by Iran to take in the Iranian Ship IRIS Lavan,” the source said.
“This request was received on February 28, 2026, indicating that a docking at Kochi was urgent as the vessel had developed technical issues,” the source added.
“Approval was accorded for the docking on March 1.”
On Thursday, the crew from Iranian IRIS Bushehr was brought ashore in Sri Lanka, and the crew was being accommodated at a military camp near the capital, Colombo. The vessel reported engine trouble and sought port entry after the Iranian vessel was hit by a US torpedo.
Meanwhile, Sri Lanka denounced the toll of Middle East fighting as it gave refuge to more than 250 Iranian sailors two days after a deadly torpedo strike.
Washington said it had carried out that attack, which killed at least 84 Iranian sailors and left 64 more missing. Sri Lanka rescued 32 injured survivors.
“Our approach is that every life is as precious as our own,” Sri Lanka’s President Anura Kumara Dissanayake wrote on X on Friday, urging peace after the Israeli-US campaign led to Iranian retaliatory strikes.
Wednesday’s attack was the first military strike far outside the Middle East since the United States and Israel launched their war on Iran on Saturday.
US authorities said Wednesday’s strike was the first by a torpedo fired from an American submarine since World War II.
Sri Lanka gave permission to IRIS Bushehr to enter its territorial waters and also evacuated its 219 crew to the naval facility, while the 32 survivors from the first vessel are in the hospital.
“All our actions are aimed at saving lives and ensuring that humanity prevails,” Dissanayake said.
He said in an earlier address to the nation that sheltering the sailors was the “most courageous and humanitarian course of action that a state can take”.
“We jealously guard our non-aligned policy while ensuring that humanitarian values and the saving of lives remain our top priority,” he said.
– ‘Ceremonial’ Ship
Sri Lanka has remained neutral in the conflict. The United States is Sri Lanka’s largest export market, while Iran is a key buyer of tea, the island’s main export commodity.
Iran’s ambassador to Sri Lanka, Alireza Delkhosh, welcomed Dissanayake’s gesture.
In neighbouring India, visiting Iranian deputy foreign minister Saeed Khatibzadeh slammed the United States for attacking a “ceremonial, unloaded” ship.
Health authorities said autopsies on the 84 sailors killed in Wednesday’s attack had been completed, but the cause of death will be announced “in a few days”.
Survivors had helped identify 80 of them, but the other four will require DNA testing, a medical officer at the hospital told AFP.
Sri Lankan navy spokesman Buddhika Sampath said the crippled Iranian vessel was in anchorage near Colombo and that engineering staff were trying to repair a faulty engine. Sampath said a few Iranian sailors remained aboard to assist Sri Lankan sailors, but they would be taken off when the vessel is ready to move again.
Meanwhile, in an X post, Iranian Foreign Ministry said: Iran’s Foreign Minister Holds Phone Talks with Indian, Sri Lankan Counterparts on Regional Developments Seyed Abbas Araghchi, Foreign Minister of the Islamic Republic of #Iran, held separate telephone conversations with Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, Foreign Minister of #India, and Vijitha Herath, Foreign Minister of #SriLanka, to discuss regional developments following the military aggression by the United States and the Israeli regime against Iran, as well as bilateral relations.
During the conversations, Iran’s foreign minister described the crimes committed by the United States and the Israeli regime in recent days as part of their military aggression against Iran and stressed the responsibility of all governments and the United Nations to firmly condemn the criminal actions of the United States and the Israeli regime. He also strongly condemned the U.S. criminal attack on the Iranian naval vessel #Dena, which was targeted in international waters about 2,000 miles away from Iran’s shores without prior warning, and emphasized that the crime will be pursued through legal and international channels in relevant international bodies.
Araghchi also expressed appreciation for Sri Lanka’s efforts in the rescue operation for the sailors of the frigate Dena, stressing the importance of ensuring the safety of Iranian vessels and the well-being of their crews. The parties also emphasized the importance of continuing contacts and consultations between their countries.
Agence France-Presse
