An Iranian ship had been invited by India to take part in peacetime naval exercises with dozens of other countries, days before it was sunk in a U.S. submarine attack.
Just days before it was torpedoed by a U.S. submarine, an Iranian frigate, the IRIS Dena, had joined 41 vessels and naval personnel from more than 70 countries for peacetime multilateral exercises off India’s eastern coast to reaffirm commitments to freedom of navigation and maritime law. The strike on the ship on Wednesday, and the killing of at least 84 of those on board, has now become a political mess for India.
Iran’s foreign minister called the Dena “a guest of India’s Navy,” and wrote that the American sub had “perpetrated an atrocity” against its crew members.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India has made no official remark about the Dena’s sinking, in international waters off the coast of neighboring Sri Lanka. The Indian Navy said it received a distress call from the Sri Lankan Navy on Wednesday morning about the Iranian warship and joined search and rescue efforts by Sri Lanka.
On Thursday, Mr. Modi said only that India would “continue to support every effort for the peaceful resolution of conflicts.”
Mallikarjun Kharge, the president of the opposition Congress Party, accused Mr. Modi of a “reckless abdication of India’s strategic and national interests,” for failing to stand up for their nation’s guests.
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