Jaishankar Says Iran Ship Allowed to Dock in Kochi on ‘Humane’ Grounds

New Delhi: External affairs minister S. Jaishankar on Saturday (March 7) gave the first official account from the Indian government about the presence of the Iranian naval vessel IRIS Lavan in Kochi, saying New Delhi approved Tehran’s request to allow the vessel into port on humanitarian grounds.

His remarks at the Raisina Dialogue marked the first on record statement from the Indian government about the vessel’s presence in Kochi. The government had earlier on Friday (March 6) night disclosed the information only through official sources.

Speaking at the Raisina Dialogue, Jaishankar said Iran had contacted India on February 28 stating that one of its ships operating in the region was facing difficulties and wanted to enter an Indian port. He said the Indian government approved the request the following day.

“You had these ships, and we got a message from the Iranian side that one of the ships which presumably was closest to our waters at that point of time wanted to come in to our port. They were reporting that they were having problems,” Jaishankar said during the discussion on the Indian Ocean with foreign ministers of Sri Lanka, Seychelles and Mauritius.

“My recollection is this was on the 28th of February. And on the 1st of March, we said, okay, you can come in.”

The United States and Israel commenced strikes on Iran on February 28.

The Indian foreign minister stated the vessel then took several days to reach India before eventually docking in Kochi.

"When this ship wanted to come in and that too in difficulties, I think it was the humane thing to do," Jaishankar said. "I think we were guided by that principle."

The ship's crew of 183 persons, many of them young cadets, have disembarked and are at a facility near the port, the minister said.

Jaishankar noted that the Lavan and two other Iranian vessels had originally sailed to the region for India's International Fleet Review and MILAN exercises. “When they set out and came here, the situation was totally different,” he said. “They were coming in for a fleet review. And then they got, in a way, caught on the wrong side of events.”

Government sources had disclosed late on Friday that IRIS Lavan had been in Kochi since Wednesday after India granted Iran’s request to allow the ship to enter port.

The disclosure came two days after Iranian frigate IRIS Dena, which had also visited India for the fleet review, was torpedoed by a US submarine off Sri Lanka’s southern coast. Sri Lankan authorities rescued 32 survivors and recovered 87 bodies from the vessel.

“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,” said Jaishankar.

While the theatre of the fighting between Iran and the US and Israel has largely been limited to the Gulf, the torpedoing of the Dena off Sri Lanka’s southern coast marked the first time the conflict spilled into the Indian Ocean.

Sri Lanka has given refuge to IRIS Bushehr, docked at Colombo, where most of its crew disembarked and the vessel was moved to the eastern port of Trincomalee.

At the same session, Sri Lankan foreign minister Vijitha Herath declined to directly answer whether Colombo would repatriate Iranian personnel to Iran or was under US pressure to encourage them to defect, saying his government was following international law and UNCLOS in handling the situation. “We need not support any part. We took all steps in a humanitarian way,” he said.

Reuters earlier reported that Washington had urged Colombo not to repatriate survivors from the Dena and crew of the Bushehr to Iran, citing an internal State Department cable.

Responding to a question from the Raisina Dialogue moderator about criticism that the incident had occurred in India’s “backyard”, Jaishankar said there was a long standing presence of foreign military facilities in the region.

“Please understand the reality of the Indian Ocean. Diego Garcia has been in the Indian Ocean for last five decades. It is not something which happened last week or last month,” he said, adding that foreign forces were also based in Djibouti since the early 2000s and referring to Chinese operation of Sri Lanka’s Hambantota port.

“The idea that somehow the Indian Ocean is limited to only the countries of the Indian Ocean… if you are asking me a serious question, I would give you a serious reply. If you are asking me a non-serious question, I think I will leave it at that.”

While Jaishankar sought to underline that foreign military forces have long operated in the Indian Ocean, criticism of the Indian government has focused instead on its muted public response to the US-Israeli strikes on Iran, particularly the attack on the IRIS Dena.

India’s first official acknowledgment of the assassination of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei came only on Thursday, when foreign secretary Vikram Misri signed his condolence book at the Iranian mission in New Delhi, four days after Iran announced his death.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has not called Tehran's leadership, though he spoke to leaders of several Gulf nations and in many cases condemned Iranian attacks on their soil without naming Iran.

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