Iran says warship sunk by US was ‘unarmed’ and on ceremonial mission

Two days after a US submarine torpedoed and sank an Iranian warship off Sri Lanka’s coast, Iran on Friday warned that the attack on an “unarmed ship cannot go with impunity.”

The Iranian frigate, IRIS Dena, was returning home after participating in the Milan multilateral naval exercise hosted by India. At least 87 Iranian sailors were killed in the attack, which marked a major escalation in the conflict between the US and Iran outside of the Persian Gulf.

Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Saeed Khatibzadeh, who is visiting India, emphasised that the IRIS Dena was in a non-combat configuration, returning from the Milan naval exercises and the US action against it was a serious violation of international law.

“This is a very sad, very unfortunate incident. That vessel was by invitation of our Indian friends, attending an international exercise. It was ceremonial. It was unloaded. It was unarmed,” he said

“It is very unfortunate. Many of the young Iranian sailors who were attending these exercises lost their lives. It cannot go with impunity for those who actually did that,” he told reporters on the sidelines of the Raisina Dialogue.

IRIS Dena was part of Indian Navy’s premier multilateral maritime exercise Milan. The warship had also featured in the International Fleet Review in Vishakapatnam last month.

Khatibzadeh, blasting the US for killing of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said “cherry-picking” of international law cannot be acceptable.

“Unfortunately, principles of international law have been attacked, and we have to stand together against these atrocities. Americans have assassinated the head of another state. If it is the new norm, then nobody, no country on earth can actually have diplomatic normalisation with other countries,” he said.

Khatibzadeh also responded to a question on India’s position on the West Asia crisis.

“Iran and India have all civilisational roots with each other. We are Indo-Persian culture and civilisation and it is very much in line with this cultural civilisational heritage, and we attach great importance to Iran-India relations,” he said.

The Iranian deputy foreign minister described Iran’s fight against the US and Israel as “resistance for the history, for the region, for the world, for the principles of international law.”

“We are going to resist, and this is for the record of history. Iranians are sacrificing because rogue, reckless behaviour is happening against Iran. This is what we are doing. I think the moment they stop the aggression, we are going to have a new dynamism in the region,” he said. 

--Agencies