{"id":30567,"date":"2026-03-16T02:58:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-16T02:58:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/?p=30567"},"modified":"2026-03-16T02:58:13","modified_gmt":"2026-03-16T02:58:13","slug":"bit-of-treachery-us-attack-on-iris-dena-undermines-indian-security-ties","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/?p=30567","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Bit of treachery\u2019: US attack on IRIS Dena undermines Indian security ties"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Defence analyst says torpedo strike is a \u2018humiliation\u2019 for Modi\u2019s government that disregarded a US defence partner<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The distress call came in to Sri Lanka\u2019s maritime rescue coordination centre just after 5am. The ship in trouble, they determined, was well within Sri Lanka\u2019s obligation for rescue, being just over 19 nautical miles off the coast of the southern city of Galle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The navy swiftly mobilised and, by 6 am, the first search and rescue boat was on its way, another soon close behind. It was hard to see through the thick morning mist, but officers on board kept their eyes peeled for a ship in the distance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead, they found a spooling slick of oil on the sea\u2019s surface. Dozens of survivors held on to life rafts and bodies bobbed in the waves, but the vessel was nowhere to be seen. IRIS Dena, an Iranian warship on its way to a friendly port call in Sri Lanka, already sat on the bottom of the Indian Ocean.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"People<\/a>
Sri Lanka\u2019s navy assist Iranian sailors in the Indian Ocean after Dena was hit by a US torpedo. Photograph: Sri Lankan Navy\/Reuters<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

It had taken under three minutes for Dena to sink after it was struck by the world\u2019s most powerful torpedo, a Mark 48, launched by the US Navy nuclear-powered submarine USS Charlotte lurking silently nearby. At least 84 people onboard were killed \u2013 their bodies were repatriated to Iran this week \u2013\u00a0in an attack<\/a>\u00a0that brought the US war on Iran to the Indian Ocean.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ship was more than 3,000km (1,864 miles) away from the Gulf and not on an active mission when it was hit by the US submarine, leading to comparisons to the sinking of the Belgrano<\/a>, an Argentine ship controversially attacked by a British submarine in a defining moment of the Falklands war in 1982.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dena had been invited to the region by India, to take part in the pomp and splendour of an international fleet review in the eastern port of Visakhapatnam. A routine event for the navies of the world to show off their ships and share training exercises, Iran was one of more than 70 countries that participated over the 10 days, alongside the US, Australia and Russia. Three days later, the US and Israel began bombing Iran<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"US
US submarine sinks Iranian warship near coast of Sri Lanka \u2013 video<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The attack on the warship left senior military figures and analysts in the region stunned, provoking fears that Donald Trump\u2019s Middle East war will have wider ramifications for the geopolitically sensitive Indian Ocean region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Iran called the attack an \u201catrocity\u201d but the Trump administration was insistent that Dena was a fair target. In a press conference, the US defence secretary, Pete Hegseth<\/a>, did not disguise his glee as he said Dena had thought it was safe until it died a \u201cquiet death\u201d. That same week, Trump boasted of the strategy by the US military to strike, rather than capture, about 50 Iranian ships in the conflict. \u201cThey like sinking them better,\u201d said the US president, chuckling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

India\u2019s former chief of naval staff, Adm Arun Prakash, said the attack on Dena was legal as it took place in international water but was nonetheless \u201cshocking\u201d on multiple fronts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe US Navy could have sunk this ship anywhere on the way back to the Persian Gulf,\u201d said Prakash. \u201cWe are supposed to be friends and partners of the USA. To bring the war to right to our doorstep was a perverse act.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ethics of targeting a ship that had about 130 people onboard, which was in the region as a guest of India and posed no immediate threat to the US, \u201cleaves a very bad taste in my mouth\u201d, he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a bit of treachery of the US to attend a peaceful function side-by-side with the Iranian navy, where there\u2019s a lot of camaraderie, and then the moment the Iranian ship pops out of harbour, it\u2019s sunk,\u201d he said. \u201cThey could have delayed this action to spare India this embarrassment.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The<\/a>
The US secretary of defence, Pete Hegseth, said the sinking of IRIS Dena showed the Trump administration was \u2018fighting to win\u2019. Photograph: Octavio Jones\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

While the Iranians claim the ship was unarmed, Indian and Sri Lankan navy officials say this was highly unlikely. \u201cNone of our warships have ever left port without its ammunition outfit,\u201d said Prakash.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

R Adm Sarath Weerasekara, the former chief of staff of the Sri Lankan navy, agreed: \u201cAll the warships must carry their designated weapons. Whenever they go out into international waters, they will be on full alert.\u201d But armed or not, he said the targeting of Dena showed a worrying disregard by the Trump administration of post-Second World War conventions and agreements, particularly on the ethics of warfare.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A similar debate has raged over whether the US had a responsibility to pick up survivors after the attack. Weerasekara was among three senior navy officials who told the Guardian it was standard practice to help to save survivors of such attacks, though he acknowledged this was more difficult for a nuclear submarine that operates in stealth. \u201cIt\u2019s very clear, the US was supposed to pick up those survivors, and they should have. That\u2019s the Geneva Convention,\u201d said one retired Indian Navy three-star admiral.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Sri Lankan government has insisted it acted with \u201chumanity\u201d in its response to the incident, as the small island nation has sought to avoid being caught up in the wider politics of the US-Israeli conflict with Iran. However, questions have been raised over the delay by Colombo in giving the Iranian ship permission to dock, which left it a sitting target in the Indian Ocean.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After the international fleet review, officials say Iran had requested permission from Sri Lanka to make a friendly port call on the way home. It had three ships in its flotilla; IRIS Dena, a support ship IRIS Bushehr and a landing ship, IRIS Lavan. The Lavan was later granted permission to dock in India instead, after it experienced technical difficulties en route.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Though a port call was standard procedure in the past, the US war on Iran made this a highly precarious geopolitical situation for Sri Lanka. Even as Dena and Bushehr set sail for Sri Lanka, the official permissions for it to come to Sri Lanka\u2019s shore had still not been granted by the government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The<\/a>
The IRIS Dena in the Bay of Bengal during the international fleet review held at Visakhapatnam, India, in February. Photograph: AP<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

It was still not approved by 3 March, as Dena reached the outskirts of Sri Lanka\u2019s territorial waters. According to Weerasekara, the ship was left waiting for more than 11 hours, a delay that would prove deadly by the morning of 4 March.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe did not take any prompt action,\u201d said Weerasekara. \u201cWe could have saved those lives also. This has been discussed in the security council and yet no action has been taken.\u201d In the aftermath of the attack, Sri Lanka agreed to allow Bushehr to dock late on 4 March, amid fears it too would be hit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The attack has raised particularly difficult questions for India over the presence of a US submarine operating so close to its territory without any prior knowledge, and that no heads up was given for the attack, despite the close defence ties between Delhi and Washington.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over recent years, India has sought to project itself as a superpower and great defender of the Indian Ocean, amid\u00a0efforts by China to get a greater foothold<\/a>\u00a0over one of the world\u2019s most geopolitically important seas. Yet Weerasekara was frank that this incident had undermined these efforts. \u201cIndia is a defence partner of America so it is a shame that they don\u2019t know that a US submarine is at its back door,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sushant Singh, a former Indian army officer and defence analyst, described the incident as a \u201chumiliation\u201d for the Indian government of the prime minister\u00a0Narendra Modi<\/a>. \u201cThis sends a signal to the larger region that India is not that influential in the Indian Ocean region, not even close to its own shores,\u201d he said. \u201cIt shows the Trump administration doesn\u2019t take India seriously at all.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Simon<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The retired Indian V Adm Shekhar Sinha had been particularly shaken by the demise of Dena. Sinha attended the international fleet review in Visakhapatnam, saw Iran\u2019s cadets line up proudly on Dena and exchanged a conversation of niceties with the Iranian naval commander, who had said how much he was enjoying being in India.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAll\u2019s fair in love and war,\u201d said Sinha. \u201cBut it\u2019s very upsetting to think that a week later, many of them were dead.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He too said the incident had troubling implications for India and the security of the Indian Ocean. \u201cIt\u2019s clear we need to relook at Indian Ocean security and underwater surveillance,\u201d he said. \u201cIf an American submarine is floating in the Indian Ocean so close by and we did not know, then we’d better buck up.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reference Link:- https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2026\/mar\/15\/us-attack-iris-dena-undermines-indian-security-ties-iran<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Defence analyst says torpedo strike is a \u2018humiliation\u2019 for Modi\u2019s government that disregarded a US defence partner The distress call came in to Sri Lanka\u2019s maritime rescue coordination centre just after 5am. The ship in trouble, they determined, was well within Sri Lanka\u2019s obligation for rescue, being just over 19 nautical miles off the coast […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":30568,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"aside","meta":{"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2],"tags":[512,27977,1125,27975,27974,1990,27976,1510],"class_list":["post-30567","post","type-post","status-publish","format-aside","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sample-category","tag-america-2","tag-dirty-role-of-india","tag-india-2","tag-india-tipped-intelligence-about-irani-ship","tag-indian-role-in-hitting-iranian-ship-by-america","tag-iran-2","tag-iris-dena-undermines","tag-israel-2","post_format-post-format-aside"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30567","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=30567"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30567\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30569,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30567\/revisions\/30569"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/30568"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=30567"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=30567"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=30567"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}