Many people have endorsed Tehran’s view that the sinking of its battleship IRIS Dena with 180 people on board by a US submarine 19 nautical miles off Sri Lanka’s Galle port in which 148 of its crew lost their lives was a “war crime.” They believe so because this battleship had left its home port to participate in an international fleet review and multilateral maritime exercise. As these were ceremonial events, IRIS Dena would have been carrying only the minimum basic munitions and hence couldn’t have been a meaningful threat-in-being. 

However, experts opine that once the US declared war on Iran, IRIS Dena technically became a legitimate military target as it was a warship with cannons, missiles and surface-to-air missiles.

The sinking of IRIS Dena may not legally constitute a war crime and since IRIS Dena was sunk in international waters, this act didn’t violate the maritime integrity of any country. However, US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth’s utterly crass remark describing this incident as “quiet death” conveyed an impression that IRIS Dena had been hit without any warning, and this rightly generated a deep sense of moral revulsion amongst many.  

Media reports have now confirmed that US submarine USS Charlotte had warned IRIS Dena that its crew should abandon ship twice before torpedoing it. Being incapable of taking any offensive or defensive measures to thwart this threat, the ship’s Captain would definitely have........

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