Hyderabad: The Iranian warship, identified as the frigate IRIS Dena, which was returning to Iran from an eastern Indian port, was not sunk in a war zone but rather by the US while carrying out a peacekeeping mission to its homeland.
The attack occurred hundreds of miles from the Gulf in the Indian Ocean, where US and Israeli forces are attacking Iran, which, despite the odds against the country, is retaliating with a forceful barrage of missile and drone strikes. US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said at the Pentagon, “An American submarine sank an Iranian warship that thought it was safe in international waters. Instead, it was sunk by a torpedo. A quiet death.” Just days before the torpedo attack, the Iranian crew was in Visakhapatnam, where the warship’s crew had dined with sailors from dozens of other countries and participated in naval drills at “Milan 2026.” The Indian Navy welcomed them with formal honors and treated them as allies in a “long-standing cultural link.”
When they left the Bay of Bengal, they weren’t engaged in any hostilities; they were simply returning from a long voyage from a friendly East Indian port. The violence of this attack has now effectively brought the conflict into Indian waters. By targeting a ship that was only recently a guest of the Indian government, the conflict has reverberated hundreds of miles beyond the Persian Gulf and into the neutral, sensitive waters of the Indian Ocean. The US called it a “quiet death.”
This “quiet death,” as the US called it, occurred in Sri Lanka’s search and rescue zone, leaving behind an oil slick and survivors floating where only trade and diplomacy should have been taking place. For India, this sinking appears to be a clear “reality check.” The security of its surrounding waters has been targeted, turning a transit route into a graveyard for its international guests. The website of the biannual multilateral naval exercise “Milan” organized by India lists IRINS Dena as participating in the exercise.
The Indian Navy’s Eastern Naval Command said in a post on X on February 17, “The Indian Navy welcomed the Iranian Navy’s IRIS Dena on its arrival in Visakhapatnam. This reflects the long-standing cultural link between the two countries.” It also posted photos of the warship and some of its officers.
