India has allowed an Iranian warship to dock at one of its ports for humanitarian reasons, on the same day that another Iranian naval vessel was sunk by the United States off the coast of Sri Lanka, Indian officials said.
The Iranian ship IRIS Lavan The ship docked Wednesday in the port of Kochi, in southern India, following an urgent request from Tehran. According to an Indian government source, this authorization was granted on humanitarian grounds.
This decision came as an American submarine attacked the Iranian frigate. Dena in the Indian Ocean, near the Sri Lankan coast. The incident is part of the military escalation between Washington and Tehran, within the broader context of the regional conflict also involving Israel.
Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar confirmed that the docking had been authorized for humanitarian reasons, without providing further details on the nature of the assistance provided to the Iranian vessel.
India maintains diplomatic relations with Iran while remaining a strategic partner of the United States, which puts New Delhi in a delicate position in the face of current tensions.
This stopover by the Iranian ship illustrates the diplomatic balance that India is trying to maintain, as military tensions in the Middle East and the Indian Ocean continue to intensify.
