Iran says IRIS Dena was ‘unarmed and unloaded’ while returning from India exercise

Iran on Friday said that its naval vessel IRIS Dena, which was sunk by a US submarine in the Indian Ocean earlier this week, was “unarmed and unloaded” at the time of the attack. Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Saeed Khatibzadeh, speaking in New Delhi, said the ship had recently participated in an international naval exercise in India and was returning when it was struck.

Khatibzadeh stated that the vessel had been invited by India to attend a ceremonial international exercise and was not carrying weapons or combat equipment during its return journey. He said the attack led to the deaths of 87 Iranian sailors and described the incident as “very sad” and “very unfortunate,” adding that the deaths of the young sailors could not go unpunished.

The IRIS Dena was torpedoed on March 4 in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Sri Lanka, further escalating tensions in the ongoing US-Iran conflict. Just days earlier, the Iranian warship had participated in the International Fleet Review held in Visakhapatnam and the Milan 2026 multinational naval exercise.

Iran earlier criticised the United States for targeting what it described as a “guest of the Indian Navy.” However, officials in India said the vessel had been a guest only until February 25 and had not sought assistance from the country after tensions between Washington and Tehran intensified.

Following the incident, the Indian Navy said it received a distress alert from the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre in Colombo and launched search support operations. A long-range maritime patrol aircraft was deployed to assist rescue efforts, while another aircraft carrying air-droppable life rafts was kept on standby. INS Tarangini was also sent for search and rescue, though Sri Lankan agencies had already begun operations by then.