External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Monday hit out at India for allowing Iranian Navy ship IRIS Lavan to dock in Kochi and told Parliament that the decision was taken on humanitarian grounds and was the right one.
In his statement on the Middle East situation delivered to both the Rajya Sabha and the Lok Sabha, Jaishankar said, “The House will also take up the issue of the Iranian vessel currently docked in Kochi.”
Read also | Parliament LIVE: LS adjourned till 3pm amid Oppna protests; Rijiju flails about
‘The Right Thing’
Explaining the sequence of events, Jaishankar said that on February 28, when the United States and Israel launched joint attacks on Iran, Iran had asked India for permission to land three ships.
“This (docking permission) was granted on March 1,” Jaishankar said, adding that the IRIS Lavan docked on March 4 in Kochi, where it currently remains.
Adding that the crew of the Iranian ship – reportedly 183 members – are currently in Indian Navy facilities, Jaishankar said: “We believe it was the right thing to do and the Iranian foreign minister expressed gratitude to his country for this humane gesture.”
EAM’s comments come a few days after Iran’s ambassador to India, Mohammed Fathali, told ANI that he was grateful to India for providing shelter to IRIS Lavan.
Speaking about the sinking of the IRIS Dena by US forces, the ambassador said, “In this connection, another Iranian naval vessel, the IRIS Lavan, docked at Kochi port for technical and logistical arrangements.
“I would like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank the Indian government and local authorities for their cooperation and humanitarian approach in facilitating the landing of this vessel and supporting its crew,” the Iranian ambassador added.
Jaishankar’s comments to Parliament also echo what the minister said at the Raisina Dialogue in Delhi days ago.
Read also | Iran selects son of supreme leader to run country
What Jaishankar said in Raisina dialogue
Jaishankar on Saturday in the national capital stated the facts about the Iranian ships anchored in India.
“You had these ships and we got a message from the Iranian side that one of the ships that was probably the closest to us… to our waters at the time… wanted to enter our port. They reported that they were having problems. And so I remember it was on the 28th of February); and on the 1st (“EAM”, we said,” we said EAM, we said.
“When they set out and came here, the situation was completely different. They were coming to inspect the fleet and then in a way they got on the wrong side of events. So for us, when this ship wanted to come and that too in distress, I think it was humane. And I think we followed that principle,” added Jaishankar.
His comments on the Raisina Dialogue came days after US forces torpedoed the Iranian Navy’s IRIS Dena off the coast of Sri Lanka, killing at least 83 crew members.
On 3 March, the US Navy’s Los Angeles-class submarine USS Charlotte rammed the ill-fated ship in international waters near the southern coast of Sri Lanka, making the IRIS Dena the first ship sunk by a submarine in active combat since 1982.
