Indian Navy says IRIS Dena was outside its jurisdiction; role limited to humanitarian SAR

The Indian Navy has clarified its role regarding the sunken Iranian warship IRIS Dena. Senior officials directly involved in the sequence of events have made it unequivocally clear that IRIS Dena ceased to be a guest of the Indian Navy from the afternoon of February 25, when it sailed out from the Visakhapatnam coast. 

Senior officials directly involved in the sequence of events have made it unequivocally clear that the Indian Navy bore no responsibility for Iranian warship IRIS Dena once it departed Indian waters following the conclusion of the sea phase of MILAN on February 24, 2026.

According to these sources, IRIS Dena ceased to be a guest of the Indian Navy from the afternoon of February 25, when it sailed out from the Visakhapatnam coast. "India's watch ends when a ship leaves Indian territorial waters, not when it docks back home," an official stated, stressing that the vessel was operating in international waters and within Sri Lanka's Exclusive Economic Zone at the time of the incident. Its last port of call was Hambantota.

Sources underlined that the US-Israel conflict with Iran began three days after the MILAN exercise concluded, while the reported attack on IRIS Dena occurred eight days after the Indian multilateral drill had ended. The US strike on Iran took place on the morning or noon of February 28.

Officials confirmed that IRIS Dena did not seek any assistance, refuge, or operational support from the Indian Navy after leaving Indian shores. For more than eight days following the exercise, the vessel was observed loitering in international waters. Since India was not a party to the conflict, it had neither control over nor involvement in the ship's subsequent activities. Sources questioned whether the vessel's continued presence in the vicinity after departing Vizag formed part of Iran's broader strategic calculus in response to the US Navy.

They emphasized that the incident occurred in international waters and that India has no active role in the ongoing conflict in West Asia. Historically, even during the World Wars, naval vessels were targeted irrespective of location or timing, and such engagements did not automatically implicate neutral countries.

Sources also flagged concerns over attempts to drag India into the geopolitical narrative, particularly in light of a social media post by Iran’s Foreign Minister. "Is there an effort to draw India into an ongoing confrontation between Iran, the US, and Israel?" a senior official remarked.

They further pointed out that if the United States considered the vessel to be part of a belligerent force, it could have targeted it anywhere. More than 17 ships have reportedly been struck by US forces in the broader conflict, yet discourse has disproportionately focused on IRIS Dena. By comparison, if a ship operating independently in the Red Sea were hit, responsibility would not automatically shift to a neighboring nation.

Officials also posed a counterfactual: had IRIS Dena attacked US assets, would critics then argue that an Indian naval exercise had effectively become a launch platform for the Iranian warship?

Separately, the Indian Navy issued an official press release detailing its Search and Rescue response. A distress call from IRIS Dena was received at MRCC Colombo in the early hours of March 4, as reported by the Sri Lankan Navy. The vessel was operating approximately 20 nautical miles west of Galle in the SAR region under Sri Lankan responsibility.

Upon receiving the information, the Indian Navy promptly launched its SAR efforts to augment the search operations led by Sri Lanka. A long-range maritime patrol aircraft was deployed at 1000 hours on March 4, and another aircraft equipped with air-droppable life rafts was kept on standby for immediate deployment.

INS Tarangini, operating in the vicinity, was tasked to assist and reached the search area by 1600 hours the same day. By then, Search and Rescue operations had already been initiated by the Sri Lankan Navy and other agencies. INS Ikshak also sailed from Kochi to augment ongoing efforts and continues to remain in the area as a humanitarian measure for shipwrecked personnel. Coordination with Sri Lankan authorities remains ongoing.

The consistent message from officials is that the Indian Navy’s involvement was confined strictly to humanitarian Search and Rescue operations once information was received, with no operational or strategic linkage to the vessel’s activities after it exited Indian waters.

(With inputs from Anuvesh Rath)