{"id":1584,"date":"2026-03-06T08:11:47","date_gmt":"2026-03-06T08:11:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/1newsnetwork.com\/?p=1584"},"modified":"2026-03-18T12:03:45","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T12:03:45","slug":"iran-frigate-downed-near-sri-lanka-was-without-weapons-says-former-indian-foreign-secretary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/1nationmedia.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/06\/iran-frigate-downed-near-sri-lanka-was-without-weapons-says-former-indian-foreign-secretary\/","title":{"rendered":"Iran frigate downed near Sri Lanka was without weapons, says former Indian Foreign secretary"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A further 32 sailors were rescued off the coast of Sri Lanka and are recovering in hospital.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed alignright is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">An Iranian warship conducts a naval exercise with our Navy on our coastline just days ago with President of India in attendance. Leaves for home and is torpedoed by an American missile in the Indian Ocean not far away from our waters, leaving over 80 dead, many injured. The ship\u2026<\/p>&mdash; Rajdeep Sardesai (@sardesairajdeep) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/sardesairajdeep\/status\/2029451075972153759?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 5, 2026<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The frigate with 130 sailors on board had been part of military exercises in the Bay of Bengal at the invitation of India.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;The attack by the US submarine was premeditated as the US was aware of the Iranian ship\u2019s 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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;The US has ignored India\u2019s sensitivities as the ship was in these waters because of India\u2019s invitation. We are far from politically or militarily responsible for the US attack. Our \u201cresponsibility\u201d is at a moral and human plane,&#8221; Sibal wrote on X.<a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/KanwalSibal\"><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Meanwhile, the Sri Lanka government has confirmed another Iranian vessel is within the country&#8217;s exclusive economic zone, just outside its territorial waters. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It has been reported that the Sri Lankan government is taking steps to safeguard the crew onboard the Iranian vessel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Iran\u2019s foreign minister on Thursday warned the US that they will bitterly regret their actions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;The US has perpetrated an atrocity at sea, 2 000 miles (about 3 000 kms) away from Iran&#8217;s shores. Frigate Dena, a guest of India&#8217;s Navy carrying almost 130 sailors, was struck in international waters without warning,&#8221; Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi wrote on US social media platform X.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Mark my words: The U.S. will come to bitterly regret precedent it has set,&#8221; he warned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Meanwhile, US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth on Wednesday proudly confirmed American forces attacked the Iranian warship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Hegseth on Iran:<br><br>Yesterday in the Indian Ocean, an American submarine sank an Iranian warship that thought it was safe in international waters.<br><br>Instead, it was sunk by a torpedo. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/VoPvGgCtLq\">pic.twitter.com\/VoPvGgCtLq<\/a><\/p>&mdash; Clash Report (@clashreport) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/clashreport\/status\/2029184477092594138?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 4, 2026<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIn the Indian Ocean, an American submarine sank an Iranian warship that thought it was safe in international waters,\u201d Hegseth told reporters at the Pentagon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Instead, it was sunk by a torpedo,&#8221; he said. \u201cThe first sinking of an enemy ship by a torpedo since World War II.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe found people floating in the water and rescued them. Later on, we found upon inquiring that they belonged to the Iranian ship,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The frigate had a crew of 180 on board and the search is ongoing. &#8211; Anadulo and ONN reporters<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-wp-embed is-provider-real-news-real-impact wp-block-embed-real-news-real-impact\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"daogCOtXss\"><a href=\"https:\/\/1newsnetwork.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/04\/netanyahu-intel-prompted-trump-to-order-attack-on-iran-and-it-had-nothing-to-do-with-nuclear\/\">Netanyahu intel prompted Trump to order attack on Iran, and it had nothing to do with nuclear<\/a><\/blockquote><iframe class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" style=\"position: absolute; visibility: hidden;\" title=\"&#8220;Netanyahu intel prompted Trump to order attack on Iran, and it had nothing to do with nuclear&#8221; &#8212; REAL NEWS,REAL IMPACT\" src=\"https:\/\/1newsnetwork.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/04\/netanyahu-intel-prompted-trump-to-order-attack-on-iran-and-it-had-nothing-to-do-with-nuclear\/embed\/#?secret=cXNo2PMCm3#?secret=daogCOtXss\" data-secret=\"daogCOtXss\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/web.whatsapp.com\/send\/?text=Netanyahu+intel+prompted+Trump+to+order+attack+on+Iran%2C+and+it+had+nothing+to+do+with+nuclear+%0A%0A+https%3A%2F%2F1newsnetwork.com%2Findex.php%2F2026%2F03%2F04%2Fnetanyahu-intel-prompted-trump-to-order-attack-on-iran-and-it-had-nothing-to-do-with-nuclear%2F\"><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>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 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1585,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,168],"tags":[233,65,240,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-1584","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-conflict-zones","8":"category-world","9":"tag-hegseth","10":"tag-iran","11":"tag-iranisraelwar","12":"tag-israel"},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/1nationmedia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1584","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/1nationmedia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/1nationmedia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1nationmedia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1nationmedia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1584"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/1nationmedia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1584\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1593,"href":"https:\/\/1nationmedia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1584\/revisions\/1593"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1nationmedia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1585"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/1nationmedia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1584"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1nationmedia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1584"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1nationmedia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1584"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}