Iran Thanks India for Docking Warship, Anti-Tehran Media Claims US Warned IRIS Dena Before Sinking

Iran has officially thanked India for permitting its warship to dock at Kochi at short notice on March 1, 2026, just ahead of the US sinking an Iranian frigate in the Indian Ocean close to Sri Lanka on March 4.

Meanwhile, an anti-Tehran media outlet, Iran International, claimed in a report that the US submarine had warned the IRIS Dena’s crew to abandon the warship before it fired a torpedo that sank it, killing around 90 of the warship’s 180 crew members.

Iran’s ambassador to India, Mohammad Fathali, told news agency ANI that his nation appreciated the Indian government authorities for their cooperation and humanitarian approach in facilitating IRIS Lavan’s docking and assisting the crew members.

“We express our appreciation to the government and the people of India for their valuable support and cooperation,” he said. “The excellent coordination and cooperation of the Indian authorities in these difficult circumstances clearly reflect the long-standing and friendly relations between our two countries,” he said.

Expressing appreciation to the government and the people of India for their continued support to Iran, he said the Indian assistance to IRIS Lavan reflected the longstanding friendly ties with Iran. He said Iran was confident that the historic and constructive ties between Tehran and New Delhi would continue to strengthen.

Fathali said Iran was closely monitoring the situation in the Indian Ocean, its warships and crew members, apart from analysing the sinking of IRIS Dena by the US submarine on March 4.

“Following the tragic incident involving the Iranian naval vessel IRIS Dena in the waters of the Indian Ocean, the Islamic Republic of Iran is continuing to follow up on the situation of the crew members and to examine the different aspects of this incident,” the ambassador said.

Meanwhile, Iran International, a media outlet opposed to the present Iranian government, reported that a sailor on the ill-fated IRIS Dena had told his father that the US warships had warned the Iranian crew members to abandon the frigate twice before they torpedoed it.

This report is in contrast to Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi’s account of the events leading to IRIS Dena’s sinking by the US submarine, when he had claimed that the torpedo was fired without any warning to the Iranian warship. Araghchi had called the attack on the Iranian frigate an “atrocity at sea.”

The anti-Tehran media outlet claimed the sailor, who was also killed in the US submarine attack on IRIS Dena, called his father just before the American torpedo hit the warship to say the US forces had warned the crew members to abandon the frigate twice.

However, the media outlet claimed, the Iranian frigate commander refused to allow the crew members, mostly cadets, to abandon the warship despite the imminent threat that led to a verbal altercation between the commander and some crew members.