'Caught On Wrong Side...': Jaishankar On Iranian Ship IRIS Dena Torpedoed By US In Indian Ocean | Watch

Iran-Israel-US War: In his first public remarks about the ongoing Middle East crisis, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Saturday stated that India allowed an Iranian ship to dock at Kochi airport on "humanitarian grounds". While speaking at the Raisina Dialogue 2026, Jaishankar asserted that New Delhi approached the situation from the point of humanity, further describing it as the "right thing". While calling the sinking of the Iranian ship IRIS Dena "unfortunate", the union minister stated that the ship was caught on the wrong side of events while referring to the war between Iran and the joint forces of Israel and the US.

While describing the full turn of events, Jaishankar stated that the Iranian ship IRIS Lavan contacted India on March 1 following technical issues. "They were reporting that they were having problems...On the 1st March, we said you can come in and it took them a few days to sail in and then they docked in Kochi," Jaishankar was quoted as saying by the news agency ANI.

#WATCH | Raisina Dialogue 2026 | EAM Dr S Jaishankar says, "I too support UNCLOS and international law... We got a message from the Iranian side that one of the ships, which presumably was closest to our borders at that point of time, wanted to come into our port. They were… pic.twitter.com/CujBWJkXIL

— ANI (@ANI) March 7, 2026

He further stated that IRIS Dena unfortunately was caught on the "wrong side of events" near Sri Lanka. "In a sense of the other ships, one obviously had a similar situation in Sri Lanka and they took the decision that they did, and one unfortunately didn't make it," the union minister explained. "We approached the situation from the point of view of humanity, other than whatever the legal issues were and I think we did the right thing," he added.

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The external affairs minister further acknowledged that there were debates on the social media platforms over the attack on IRIS Dena. He clarified that foreign militaries already have a presence in the region for the past two decades.

"There are a lot of social media debates going on over this...Please understand the reality of the Indian Ocean. Diego Garcia has been in the Indian Ocean for the last five decades...The fact that there are foreign forces based in Djibouti happened in the early part of the first decade of this century. Hambantota came up during this period," Jaishankar stated.

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Earlier, on March 4, the US sank IRIS Dena under its Operation Epic Fury against Iran, leading to the deaths of at least 87 sailors.