'India Shelters Three Iranian Ships In Kochi Amid West Asia Crisis,' EAM Jaishankar Confirms

External Affairs Minister Jaishankar stated on Monday that India has given shelter to three Iranian ships in Kochi. In his address to the Rajya Sabha, the minister said. “Iranian side requested permission on 28 February for three ships in the region to dock at our ports. This was accorded on 1 March. IRIS LAVAN actually docked on 4 March in Kochi. The crew is currently in Indian naval facilities.”

Raisina Dialogue Reference

The minister had also referred to the Iranian ship at the recently held Raisina Dialogue in New Delhi when he said on Saturday that one Iranian ship wanted to come to port. “We got a message from the Iranian side that one of the ships, which presumably was closest to us… to our waters at that point of time… wanted to come into our port. They were reporting that they were having problems. And so, my recollection is this was on the 28th (February); and on the 1st (March), we said, ‘okay, you can come in.’”

While the External Affairs Minister’s address to the Rajya Sabha did mention energy security as key area of concern he did not outline the steps that India was undertaking to manage the crisis. The minister also did not mention New Delhi’s response to the US’s recent offer to India allowing New Delhi to buy Russian oil for 30 days.

US Energy Secretary Chris Wright had said in an interview to ABC News. “We have reached out to our friends in India to buy stored Russian oil. That pulls oil into Indian refineries and releases pressure on other global refineries,” Wright recently said during an interview with ABC News.

Silence on Sinking of IRIS Dena

Oil aside, diplomats and strategic commentators were surprised at the minister’s did not mention the US sinking of the Iranian frigate the IRIS Dena. The frigate, which was sunk in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of Sri Lanka, was returning from Visakhapatnam after a multilateral naval exercise. Given that India had invited the IRIS Dena, some diplomats believe condolences should have been offered for the lives lost.

Former foreign secretary Kanwal Sibal believed that while the government need not have taken on that task, it could have come from the Indian Navy after clearance from the MEA. “A word of condolence by the Indian Navy (after political clearance) at the loss of lives of those who were our invitees and saluted our president would be in order.”

Diplomats also said that the US firing on the frigate took place in the Bay of Bengal, a strategic area of concern for India. Former foreign secretary Nirupama Rao wrote on X that the “episode signals that a conflict originating in West Asia has begun to extend into the maritime domain of the Indian Ocean. Any widening of hostilities in these waters inevitably affects global stability.”

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