Mumbai, Mar 5 (PTI) The US submarine, which sank an Iranian naval ship in the Indian Ocean amid the ongoing conflict in West Asia, did not issue any prior warning and launched a sudden attack, causing the vessel to explode, an Iranian diplomat said on Thursday.
Speaking to PTI Videos, Saeid Reza Mosayeb Motlagh, Iran’s Consul General in Mumbai, said the ship, ‘IRIS Dena’, had come to India for a naval exercise and was returning home after the drill when it was attacked.
When a ship comes for such exercises, it does not carry significant war ammunition. Whatever limited ammunition it may have had would typically be used during the exercise itself. Therefore, it can be said that this ship was practically without military ammunition, he explained.
An American submarine fired a torpedo to sink the Iranian frigate in international waters off Sri Lanka’s southern coast on Tuesday. The vessel was returning from Visakhapatnam after taking part in the International Fleet Review.
“The American submarine did not issue any prior warning to this vessel and launched a sudden attack, causing the ship to explode. Unfortunately, around 100 people, perhaps even more, including our compatriots and brave Iranian soldiers, were martyred in this incident. The others were injured, and the necessary arrangements are currently being made to transfer them to Iran,” Motlagh said.
Efforts have been made to facilitate their departure through the land borders by overlooking certain regulations, he maintained.
The IRIS Dena, one of Iran’s newest warships, was a Moudge-class frigate that patrolled in deep waters. It was armed with heavy guns, surface-to-air missiles, anti-ship missiles and torpedoes. The vessel carried one helicopter.
Sri Lanka’s navy said on Wednesday it recovered 87 bodies and rescued 32 people from the sunken warship.
The envoy said when flight operations become possible at airports in Iran, his government will coordinate with Indian authorities to arrange special aircraft to evacuate Indian nationals from the West Asian country.
Motlagh dubbed the US-Israel “war” on the Islamic Republic as “unjust”. PTI PS PR RSY
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