An Iranian warship that was sunk by a US submarine near Sri Lanka was taking part in naval exercises hosted by India before venturing into international waters in the Indian Ocean on its way home, New Delhi said.
The sinking underscored the scale of the US-Israel war with Iran and its spread to the Middle East and beyond. It has also sparked a debate in India about maritime security in the Indian Ocean – a region where New Delhi maintains a large naval presence.
On Wednesday, Sri Lanka’s navy recovered 87 bodies and rescued 32 Iranian sailors from the IRIS Dena, which sank in international waters off the coast of the island nation – the rarest example of a submarine sinking a ship since World War II.
The Sri Lankan navy said it had responded to the IRIS Dena signal, but when it arrived at the site, there was no sign of the ship, oil slicks and sailors were floating in the water. The rescued sailors were taken to a hospital in the city of Galle, on the southern coast of Sri Lanka.
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the sinking shows that the US-Israeli war against Iran extends beyond its borders and described the IRIS Dena as a “prize-winning ship.”
Get the latest country news
For news that affects Canada and the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you as they happen.
American President Donald Trump said that one of the important goals of this war is to completely destroy the Iranian army.
A video released by the US Department of Defense on X showed the timing of the torpedo attack. The Iranian ship appears to have been hit by an underwater explosion that caused it to break apart, with large amounts of water rising into the air.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi accused the US Navy of “committing atrocities at sea” by sinking the frigate and said on social media on Thursday that the United States would “deeply regret” the attack.
The Ministry of Navy and Defense of India said that the Iranian warship participated in the International Fleet Review and the multinational military exercise MILAN 2026, organized by the Indian Navy in the port of Visakhapatnam from February 15 to February 25. The Ministry said that 74 countries joined the events.
An Iranian warship was seen moving in the sea during the exercises in the post of Feb. 17 in X is the Indian Navy. Another photo showed several of its crew members standing on deck with an Iranian flag in the background.
Araghchi emphasized that the frigate was a “guest” of the Indian navy. The Indian government has yet to come out publicly about the incident.
India has long viewed the Indian Ocean as central to its security, with its navy regularly conducting international patrols and exercises to protect vital sea lanes used for global trade and energy exports. It has also traditionally sought to maintain a careful diplomatic balance in the tensions between the US and Iran while emphasizing dialogue and dialogue.
Opposition leaders in India, on Thursday, questioned the government’s lack of response to the incident, saying that the sinking of a warship near India’s coast proves the official statement.
The opposition Indian National Congress has criticized what it calls the “silence” of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government.
“The controversy has reached behind us, when an Iranian warship was sunk in the Indian Ocean. Yet the Prime Minister said nothing,” wrote opposition leader Rahul Gandhi on the X website.
Kanwal Sibal, a former diplomat who served as India’s foreign secretary from 2002 to 2003, wrote in X that India was “far from politically or militarily responsible for the US attack,” but “its responsibility is on a moral and human plane.”
“The US has ignored India’s sensitivities,” Sibal said. “The ship was sailing because of India’s invitation.”
© 2026 The Canadian Press
