In what was his first reaction to the sinking of the Iranian warship IRIS Dena and India allowing the docking of IRIS Lavan, external affairs minister S Jaishankar on Saturday said that he supports United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and international law, and added that IRIS Lavan was allowed to dock in Kochi on humanitarian grounds.
The IRIS Lavan, which took part in the International Fleet Review, had earlier docked in Kochi after developing technical problems. Iran had approached India days before the IRIS Dena incident south of Sri Lanka.
The vessel was in the region as part of the Iranian naval presence for the International Fleet Review and MILAN 2026, held from February 15 to February 25. India cleared the docking request on March 1, and the ship’s 183 crew members are currently staying at naval facilities in Kochi.
Speaking at the Raisina Dialogue, Jaishankar said, “I too support UNCLOS and international law… We got a message from the Iranian side that one of the ships, which presumably was closest to our borders at that point of time, wanted to come into our port. They were reporting that they were having problems. And so, my recollection is this was on the 28th, and on the 1st, we said, ‘Okay, you can come in’. And it took them a few days to sail in, and then they docked in Kochi. And the ship is there. And obviously, the people on the ship, a lot of them were young cadets, that is my understanding. They have disembarked; they are, you know, in a nearby facility… When they set out and came here, the situation was totally different.”
He added, “They were coming in for a fleet review, and then they got, in a way, caught on the wrong side of events. So for us, when this ship wanted to come in, and that too in difficulties, I think it was the humane thing to do. And I think we were guided by that principle. And in a sense, of the other ships, one obviously had a similar situation in Sri Lanka, and they took the decision which they did, and one unfortunately didn’t make it. So I think where really approached it from the point of view of, in a sense, of humanity, of other than, you know, whatever the legal issues were. And I think we did the right thing.”
