‘Approached from a point of humanity,’ Jaishankar on why India let Iran warship dock in Kochi

India allowed an Iranian warship to dock as a ‘humanitarian gesture’, Minister of External Affairs ​S. Jaishankar said on Saturday (March 7, 2026), after the U.S. sank another ‌Iranian Navy vessel off neighbouring Sri Lanka.

Israel-Iran war, highlights on March 7, 2026

In his first remarks on the U.S. sinking another Iranian Navy vessel in the Indian Ocean, Mr. Jaishankar said that India allowed it to dock in Kochi as it approached it “from a point of humanity”.

On Wednesday (March 4, 2026), a U.S. submarine torpedoed the Iranian warship IRIS Dena, which sank off the coast of Sri Lanka, killing 83 people. This brought the West Asian conflict closer to India. The Indian government faced scathing criticism for its “silence” over the attack.

Another Iranian warship, IRIS Lavan, docked at Kochi on Wednesday (March 4, 2026), after an urgent request from Tehran, Indian government sources said. Both fleets were leaving from an International Fleet Review in Visakhapatnam.

“When the [Iranian] ships had set out, and when they came here, the situation was totally different,” Mr. Jaishankar said at the annual Raisina Dialogue event. IRIS Lavan and two other ships “were coming in for a fleet review ​and then they ‌got, in a way, caught on the wrong side of the events,” he said.

“I think we really approached it from the point ‌of view of humanity, of other than whatever ​the legal issues were,” he said. “I think we did the right thing.”

Flagging social media debates over the incident, the Minister called for people to “understand the reality of the Indian Ocean”.

According to the Indian Navy, search and rescue operations were launched after a distress call from IRIS Dena was received by Colombo early on Wednesday (March 4, 2026). The ship, at the time of sinking, was operating about 20 nautical miles west of Galle in the SAR region under Sri Lankan responsibility.

U.S. President Donald Trump had said that destroying the Iranian Navy is one aim ‌of the war he and Israel launched ‌against ⁠the Islamic Republic a week ago.