Former Indian Foreign Secretary Kanwal Sibal has called out the attack on an Iranian frigate in international waters by a US submarine in which 87 sailors were killed. Another Iran frigate remains at risk.
A further 32 sailors were rescued off the coast of Sri Lanka and are recovering in hospital.
The frigate with 130 sailors on board had been part of military exercises in the Bay of Bengal at the invitation of India.
Sibal, who is the Indian Ambassador to Turkey, Egypt, France and Russia, wrote on X that the frigate was defenceless as ships participating in military exercises may not carry weapons.
“The attack by the US submarine was premeditated as the US was aware of the Iranian ship’s presence in the exercise to which the US navy was invited but withdrew from participation at the last minute, presumably with this operation in mind.
“The US has ignored India’s sensitivities as the ship was in these waters because of India’s invitation. We are far from politically or militarily responsible for the US attack. Our “responsibility” is at a moral and human plane,” Sibal wrote on X.
Meanwhile, the Sri Lanka government has confirmed another Iranian vessel is within the country’s exclusive economic zone, just outside its territorial waters.
It has been reported that the Sri Lankan government is taking steps to safeguard the crew onboard the Iranian vessel.
Iran’s foreign minister on Thursday warned the US that they will bitterly regret their actions.
“The US has perpetrated an atrocity at sea, 2 000 miles (about 3 000 kms) away from Iran’s shores. Frigate Dena, a guest of India’s Navy carrying almost 130 sailors, was struck in international waters without warning,” Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi wrote on US social media platform X.
“Mark my words: The U.S. will come to bitterly regret precedent it has set,” he warned.
Meanwhile, US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth on Wednesday proudly confirmed American forces attacked the Iranian warship.
“In the Indian Ocean, an American submarine sank an Iranian warship that thought it was safe in international waters,” Hegseth told reporters at the Pentagon.
“Instead, it was sunk by a torpedo,” he said. “The first sinking of an enemy ship by a torpedo since World War II.”
Sri Lankan Navy spokesman Buddhika Sampath said a joint rescue operation was launched after the vessel had issued a distress call saying it had been hit.
“We found people floating in the water and rescued them. Later on, we found upon inquiring that they belonged to the Iranian ship,” he said.
The frigate had a crew of 180 on board and the search is ongoing. – Anadulo and ONN reporters