Attack on Iranian naval vessel shatters India's image of "ocean guardian"

A US strike on an Iranian naval vessel returning from joint exercises with the Indian Navy has exposed the limits of India’s influence in the Indian Ocean, ripping a hole in Prime Minister Modi's presentation of New Delhi's geopolitical might.

After taking part in the MILAN naval exercise—a biennial multilateral drill hosted by India—the Iranian IRIS Dena departed Visakhapatnam on India’s eastern coast on February 26. The vessel was struck in international waters south of Sri Lanka in the early hours of March 4 by a US submarine.

India’s navy took more than a day after the strike to issue a formal response, even as US officials framed the incident as evidence of how the administration of Donald Trump was prepared to expand its war against Iran.

“An American submarine sank an Iranian warship that thought it was safe in international waters,” said US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth at the Pentagon. “Instead, it was sunk by a torpedo. Quiet death.”

Tehran reacted with outrage over the destruction of the vessel hundreds of kilometres from Iranian territory. In a statement following the incident, Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi underscored the fact that the IRIS Dena had been “a guest of India’s navy,” returning after completing the exercise it joined at New Delhi’s invitation.

Neither New Delhi nor the Indian Navy has criticised—even mildly—the US decision to sink the warship, despite Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi previously describing the navy as “the guardian of the Indian Ocean.” Modi made the remark in a speech to naval officials in October 2025.

Military analysts and former Indian naval officers say the episode places India in an awkward position: either New Delhi was aware of the planned US strike in the Indian Ocean, or it was caught off guard by the presence of a nuclear submarine operating so close to its maritime sphere of influence.

Arun Prakash, a former chief of India’s naval staff, told Al Jazeera that if New Delhi had been blindsided, “it reflects on the US-India relationship directly.”

“If it is a surprise, then that’s a great concern since we have a so-called strategic partnership with the USA.”

If India had prior knowledge of the strike, however, it could be interpreted as tacitly aligning with the United States and Israel in their confrontation with Iran.

C Uday Bhaskar, a retired Indian Navy officer and director of the Society for Policy Studies in New Delhi, said the sinking of an Iranian warship in the Indian Ocean complicates India’s self-image as a “net security provider” in the region.

According to Bhaskar, the episode represents a “strategic embarrassment” for India and undermines its credibility in the Indian Ocean, while its moral standing “takes a beating” because of the Indian government’s near silence on the incident.

By Nazrin Sadigova