Just days before it was torpedoed by a U.S. submarine, an Iranian frigate, the IRIS Dena, had joined 41 vessels from more than 70 countries for peacetime multilateral exercises off India’s eastern coast to reaffirm commitments to freedom of navigation and maritime law. The strike on the ship on Wednesday, and the killing of at least 84 of those on board, has now become a political mess for India.
Iran’s foreign minister called the Dena “a guest of India’s Navy,” and wrote that the American sub had “perpetrated an atrocity” against its crew members.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India has made no official remark about the Dena’s sinking, in international waters off the coast of neighboring Sri Lanka. The Indian Navy said it received a distress call from the Sri Lankan navy on Wednesday morning about the Iranian warship and joined search and rescue efforts by Sri Lanka.
On Thursday, Mr. Modi said only that India would “continue to support every effort for the peaceful resolution of conflicts.”
Mallikarjun Kharge, the president of the opposition Congress Party, accused Mr. Modi of a “reckless abdication India’s strategic and national interests,” for failing to stand up for their nation’s guests.
India finds itself in a deeply awkward position, caught between Iran and the United States, Israel and the Arab states of the Gulf. India has been a friendly partner to all of them in recent years. But the government has issued no expressions of outrage or sympathy to either side during the first days of the new war against Iran.
Ordinary Indians spoke more easily. S. Venkatesh looks after the scenic park of Kailasagiri, near the port where the international fleet docked. Officers and sailors, including the crew of the Dena, were welcomed ashore and toured the park’s sights, including giant white statues of the Hindu deities Shiva and Parvati.
“It is really heart-wrenching,” said Mr. Venkatesh. “Only a few days ago, I shook hands with these young men from Iran,” he said. They were served snacks and posed for photos.
Retired Vice Adm. Arun Kumar Singh was a guest at a procession on Feb. 19. “I watched the Iranian ships and then their navy men marching with the band,” Admiral Singh said. “I think more than half are dead by now.”
But the admiral did not fault the United States or India for the fate of the Dena and its men, 32 of whom were rescued by the Sri Lankan Navy. “War has broken out. And any belligerent can be attacked anywhere on the international waters,” he said.
Adm. Arun Prakash, a former chief of the Indian Navy, criticized the attack while acknowledging that it may have been within international law. “Even strategic autonomy needs to have some moral moorings and anchor,” he said in an interview with Rajdeep Sardesai, a prominent Indian journalist.
Strategic autonomy is the guiding principle of India’s foreign policy, keeping it neutral since the days of the Cold War. Talmiz Ahmad, a former Indian diplomat who served as ambassador to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Oman, said, “I advocated that India should play a role as a peacemaker in the region, between Iran and the Arab states.”
For many years India, was a good friend to Iran, buying its oil and working with it to develop the Iranian port of Chabahar on the Arabian Sea.
At the same time, “the Gulf was a center of diplomatic success for India,” Mr. Ahmad said, despite hostilities between Iran and its Arab neighbors. Relations with Saudi Arabia and the U.A.E. grew notably warmer during the 11 years since Mr. Modi took office.
In decades past, India maintained strong ties with both Palestinians and Israelis. But as part of its quiet realignment in the last 20 years in favor of the United States and against China, India has drawn closer to Israel, a major source of military equipment and venture capital.
After announcing a trade deal with the United States on Feb. 2, India seized three Iranian-flagged tankers that American authorities had accused of smuggling oil. Days later, the Indian government told Parliament that its commitment to the Iranian port project was complete.
Mr. Modi went to Israel on Feb. 24, and made the realignment even more clear, upgrading India’s relationship with Israel to a “special strategic partnership.”
And yet, Mr. Modi has not issued a public statement in support of the United States and Israel in its conflict with Iran. After facing hostility from the United States in the form of tariffs, and a public rift over President Trump’s role as peacemaker in India’s conflict with Pakistan last year, Mr. Modi appears to be holding on to some room to maneuver.
Alex Travelli is a correspondent based in New Delhi, writing about business and economic developments in India and the rest of South Asia.
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