Iranian warship docked in Kochi, Jaishankar sconfirms

A third Iranian warship has been docked in India's southern port city of Kochi since earlier this week, Minister of Foreign Affairs Subrahmanyam Jaishankar confirmed. The Press Trust of India earlier reported this, citing unnamed sources.

Jaishankar was speaking at a panel on 'The future of the Indian Ocean' at the Raisina Dialogue 2026 in New Delhi.

Jaishankar said the warship, identified as IRIS Lavan by officials, had requested to dock in India due to technical difficulties, and on March 1, the Indian government allowed it to enter Indian waters based on humanitarian grounds.

"It took them a few days to sail in and then they docked in Kochi. The ship is there. The people on the ship were a lot of young cadets. They have disembarked and are at a nearby facility," he said.

On March 4, a US submarine torpedoed the IRIS Dena in the Indian Ocean amid the conflict in Iran, killing at least 87 on board. Within 24 hours, another Iranian vessel, the IRIS Bushehr sought assistance from Sri Lanka, whose authorities brought more than 200 sailors ashore.

The Iranian vessels had been participating in an international exercise hosted by the Indian Navy, before the war on Iran began.

"When they set out and came here, the situation was totally different. They were coming in for a fleet review and they got caught, in a way, on the wrong side of events. So for us, when this ship wanted to come in, that too in difficulties, I think that was the humane thing to do," he said at the geopolitics conference.

When asked about the implications of the sunken warship in India's "backyard," Jaishankar said that people need to realize that the Indian Ocean is not limited to Indian jurisdiction.