Permission for Iranian ships to dock in India

INdia granted permission to 3 iranian language warships to tail at the rural area’s ports trinity days before one of them, IRIS Dena, was sunk by a US submarine near Sri Lanka, according to information provided by the government in Parliament on Monday.Iran sought permission for the three warships, which were in regional waters, to dock in India on February 28, the day that Israel and the US launched their attacks on Iran, and the permission was given the next day, March 1.The Iranian frigate IRIS Dena was torpedoed and sunk by a US submarine near the coast of Sri Lanka early on March 4, resulting in the death of almost 90 crew members. Another 32 crew members were rescued by Sri Lankan authorities.External affairs minister S Jaishankar provided details about the episode while making a statement on the escalating tensions in West Asia in both houses of Parliament. He added that the Indian government’s decision to permit one of the three Iranian warships, IRIS Lavan, to dock at Kochi was “the right thing to do”.Also Read: ‘Dialogue and diplomacy’ needed to de-escalate tensions in West Asia: Jaishankar in Rajya Sabha“The Iranian side…requested permission on February 28 for three ships in the region to dock at our ports. This was accorded on March 1,” he said in identical statements in Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha. “IRIS Lavan actually docked on March 4 in Kochi.”IRIS Lavan’s crew is currently in Indian naval facilities. “We believe that this was the right thing to do and the Iranian foreign minister has expressed his country’s thanks for this humane gesture,” Jaishankar said.Following the sinking of IRIS Dena, the Sri Lankan government allowed a second Iranian warship, IRIS Booshehr, to take shelter in its waters on March 6. The vessel was later taken to Trincomalee port and its 204-member crew was accommodated at a naval facility.Earlier, while participating in the Raisina Dialogue on Saturday, Jaishankar said the Indian side got a message from Iran that “one of the ships, which presumably was closest to our waters at that point of time, wanted to come into our port”.“It took them a few days to sail in and they docked in Kochi and the ship is there,” he had said, referring to IRIS Lavan. “These ships…were coming in for a fleet review and then they got in a way caught on the wrong side of events…Of the other ships, one obviously had a similar situation in Sri Lanka and they took the decision which they did. And one unfortunately didn’t make it.”The three Iranian warships were in Indian waters for the International Fleet Review and a multi-nation exercise held last month. Only IRIS Dena formally participated in these events while the other two remained in Indian waters and took part in other engagements. For instance, IRIS Lavan and IRIS Booshehr made a port call in Mumbai in late February and interacted with the Indian Navy.The Iranian Navy had also sought permission, before the outbreak of hostilities, for all three warships to come in to Kochi port for replenishment before their voyage home, people familiar with the matter said on condition of anonymity.It was not immediately clear why IRIS Dena and IRIS Booshehr had not sought shelter in an Indian port after the permission was granted on March 1, the people said. They pointed out that IRIS Dena had been invited by Sri Lanka to make a port call and this was why it had sailed towards the neighbouring country.The sinking of IRIS Dena marked an expansion of the Iran-US conflict to India’s strategic backyard at a time when concerns have grown about the economic fallout of the war, especially for energy supplies from West Asia.