An Iranian warship destroyed in a US torpedo strike on Wednesday was “defenceless” after taking part in an international naval exercise as a guest of the Indian navy, a former Indian official has claimed.
Former Indian Foreign Secretary Kanwal Sibal said in a post on X that “the Iranian ship will not be where it was if we had not invited it to talk [sic] part in our Milan exercise.
“The Iranian naval personnel had paraded before our president,” he added.
The IRIS Dena, described as a destroyer, had taken part in an international naval exercise in India last month and was making its way back to Iran from Visakhapatnam, where the joint exercise ended on 25 February.
According to reports, the rules of the exercise stipulated that no ammunition was allowed on participating ships.
Sri Lanka’s Foreign Minister, Vijitha Herath, told the country’s parliament that the vessel was sailing outside Sri Lanka’s territorial waters on Wednesday when it sent a distress signal at 5:08 am local time.
Sri Lanka responded by sending naval ships and its air force to the endangered vessel. Around 87 bodies and 32 survivors were rescued, with some found to be “seriously injured,” Herath said.
Speaking to reporters in Washington, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the sinking illustrated that the US-Israeli war on Iran was stretching beyond its borders.
The Iranian ship “thought it was safe in international waters,” but “instead, it was sunk by a torpedo,” Hegseth said.
“America is winning, decisively, devastatingly and without mercy,” he added.
Hellbound and Down 
TBH, I doubt there was a memorandum sent to the US explaining that an unarmed Iranian destroyer was going to be in their periphery. I imagine that the SecWar, etc. would have known that but I also wouldn’t be surprised if they didn’t pass along the intel to the deployed naval groups.
It was a warship. It was also in international waters.
It isn’t that I agree with the US’s aggression, especially without Congressional input, but I understand flattening the Iranian’s navy.
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