India Allows Iranian Ship IRIS Lavan To Dock, Shelters Crew At Kochi Naval Facilities

India granted Iran permission for three naval vessels to call at Indian ports on March 1.

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Arab News

One of those ships, the Iranian frigate IRIS Lavan, docked at Kochi on March 4.

Scroll.in

The ship’s crew have been housed at Indian naval facilities.

Scroll.in reports that External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar told the Rajya Sabha that IRIS Lavan is docked at Kochi, its crew are being held at Indian naval facilities, and that Iran had requested permission for three ships on March 1 which India granted.

Arab News likewise states that India’s foreign minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar told parliament that Iran had asked permission for three of its ships to dock at Indian ports and that permission was granted on March 1, and that one of the vessels docked at the southern port of Kochi on March 4 with its crew housed at Indian naval facilities.

The government framed the decision as a humanitarian gesture and defended it amid regional tensions.

Jaishankar described the move as the 'right thing to do' and said Iran had thanked India.

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Jaishankar urged diplomacy to de-escalate wider West Asia violence that began on February 28.

Scroll.in reports that 'Jaishankar called the move a humanitarian gesture and said Iran had thanked India.'

Scroll.in also reports that 'speaking amid Opposition protests and a walkout over the lack of a full debate, Jaishankar urged diplomacy to de-escalate the wider West Asia conflict that began on February 28 and has involved US–Israeli action and Iranian retaliation.'

Arab News records Jaishankar's formulation that the government believed granting the request was 'the right thing to do.'

Jaishankar placed the decision in the context of protecting Indian nationals and economic interests in the Gulf, telling parliament that India is working to bring stranded Indians home and that its Tehran embassy remains operational to assist students and businesspeople.

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Arab News

Scroll.in quotes him saying "He said India is working to bring stranded nationals home, with its Tehran embassy operational and assisting students and businesspeople (some routed through Armenia)," and adds that he "stressed India’s strong stakes in Gulf stability — including about 10 million Indians in the region — and said energy security and trade flows remain paramount."

Arab News’s coverage of the port call likewise frames the move as a government decision made on humanitarian and practical grounds.

The parliament statement drew immediate political pushback: Scroll.in records that Jaishankar spoke “amid Opposition protests and a walkout over the lack of a full debate,” indicating domestic controversy about whether Parliament had adequately debated the government’s decision to shelter the crew.

Arab News does not report those protests, so sources differ in the level of emphasis they place on domestic parliamentary reaction.

Scroll.in

Scroll.in also notes uncertainty around whether another Iranian warship, the IRIS Dena, was among the vessels India had been asked to shelter.

There is unresolved and serious reporting around the IRIS Dena.

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Arab News

Scroll.in repeats a report that India had been asked to offer shelter to the Dena.

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Scroll.in says the Dena was later 'struck and sunk by a US submarine off Sri Lanka on March 4'.

The article says the attack 'killed at least 87 people, with many missing and some rescued by Sri Lanka'.

The government statement, per Scroll.in, did not confirm whether the Dena was among the vessels allowed in, a factual uncertainty present in the coverage.

Arab News does not mention the Dena or the sinking in its brief account of the Kochi docking.