Days before an Iranian warship, IRIS Dena, was struck by a US torpedo off the coast of Sri Lanka, the Indian government had granted permission to another Iranian naval vessel, IRIS Lavan, to dock at the southwestern Indian port of Kochi, sources said on Friday.
IRIS Lavan docked in Kochi on March 4 after Tehran had submitted a request on February 28, around the time hostilities between the United States and Iran began escalating.
A total of 183 crew members aboard the vessel were accommodated at naval facilities in Kochi.
“IRIS LAVAN has since docked at Kochi on March 4. In this context, its crew of 183 are currently accommodated at naval facilities in Kochi,” a source told Hindustan Times.
Approval for the docking was granted on March 1, just days before a US submarine struck IRIS Dena off the Sri Lankan coast on March 4, an incident that further intensified the US-Iran conflict and heightened tensions across the Middle East.
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