The Iranian vessel IRIS Dena was torpedoed by a US submarine about 40 nautical miles off Galle in southern Sri Lanka early on Wednesday while returning from an India-organised naval exercise in Visakhapatnam, killing at least 80 people on board. Two other Iranian naval vessels — IRIS Lavan and IRIS Bushehr — had also been operating in the Indian Ocean and had taken part in thesame event. The minister stressed that the three Iranian naval ships arrived in India to participate in the event before the West Asia conflict began. He added that one of the other ships encountered a similar situation near Sri Lanka and was handled by Colombo, while another vessel — IRIS Dena — “unfortunately didn’t make it”. Iran thanks IndiaIran on Saturday expressed gratitude to India for providing a safe harbour to its naval vessel IRIS Lavan.

Source: The Telegraph March 07, 2026 23:06 UTC