‘Pray for peace for the departed soul’| India News

India on Thursday condoled the killing of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in joint Israel-US military strikes after maintaining silence on the matter since the weekend, even as external affairs minister S Jaishankar spoke to his Iranian counterpart Seyed Abbas Araghchi to discuss the evolving situation in West Asia. Track updates on Iran-US conflict

Foreign secretary Vikram Misri visited the Iranian embassy on Thursday afternoon and signed the condolence book on behalf of the government. He also had a brief interaction with Iranian ambassador Mohammad Fathali. “Sincerest condolences on behalf of the government and the people of India. We pray for peace for the departed soul,” Misri wrote in the condolence book.

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Jaishankar spoke with Araghchi on phone for the second time since February 28, when Israel and the US launched military strikes on Iran. “Had a telecon with Iranian FM Seyed Abbas Araghchi this afternoon,” Jaishankar said on social media, without giving details.

The developments followed scathing criticism by the opposition Congress party and former military officials and diplomats of India’s position on the killing of Khamenei and the sinking of an Iranian frigate by a US submarine within Sri Lanka’s exclusive economic zone on Wednesday, while it was leaving the region after participating in an International Fleet Review and a multi-national exercise hosted by India.

The external affairs ministry issued two statements on February 28 and March 3 to express concern over the situation in West Asia and to push dialogue and diplomacy aimed at finding an “early end” to the conflict. The ministry emphasised India’s focus on the security of 10 million Indian nationals living in West Asia and on averting any major disruption of trade and energy supply chains passing through the region, but maintained silence on Khamenei’s killing and the sinking of the Iranian frigate IRIS Dena.

Following the death of then Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi and foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian in a helicopter crash in May 2024, Jaishankar had visited the Iranian embassy to express condolences, while India’s response to Khamenei’s death was handled by the foreign secretary.

Congress party leader Sonia Gandhi was among those who criticised the government’s stand on the killing of Iran’s Supreme Leader, saying that its silence raised questions about the credibility of India’s foreign policy and would facilitate the erosion of international norms.

“When the targeted killing of a foreign leader draws no clear defence of sovereignty or international law from our country and impartiality is abandoned, it raises serious doubts about the direction and credibility of our foreign policy,” Gandhi wrote in an opinion piece.

Former foreign secretaries Nirupama Menon Rao and Kanwal Sibal questioned the government’s stance on the sinking of the Iranian frigate by a US submarine soon after it participated in events hosted by India, while former Indian Navy chief Admiral Arun Prakash, one of the country’s leading commentators on security issues, described the US action as “condemnable” and an “inflammatory act”.

Sri Lankan officials have said 32 crew members of IRIS Dena were rescued while 90 bodies were recovered after the sinking of the warship.

In a social media post, Rao questioned whether national interest is “always best served by saying nothing” and added: “India cannot aspire to be a civilisational voice and a karma chameleon at the same time.”

Sibal emphasised on social media that the US “ignored India’s sensitivities” as the Iranian frigate was in “these waters because of India’s invitation”. He added, “We are far from politically or militarily responsible for the US attack. Our ‘responsibility’ is [on] a moral and human plane.”

Referring to the multi-nation exercise that IRIS Dena participated in last month, Sibal said: “In a way the spirit of the Milan exercise shared by the Iranian Navy has been violated by this US action, more so as it occurred not far from India’s maritime periphery.”

Prakash said in a social media post that the sinking of the Iranian warship “with heavy loss of life is a senseless & inflammatory act”. He added, “Initiating another dimension of violence in this open-ended conflict will spread alarm across the high seas & disrupt global seaborne commerce.”

The Indian Navy said in a statement on Thursday that it had “promptly launched” search and rescue efforts after the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) in Colombo received a distress call from IRIS Dena in the early hours of Wednesday. This included the deployment of a long-range maritime patrol aircraft and the warship INS Tarangini to augment search efforts led by Sri Lanka.

Another Indian warship, INS Ikshak, also sailed from Kochi to augment the search efforts and is still in the area to search for missing personnel as a humanitarian gesture, the statement said.

The sinking of the Iranian warship is being perceived in Indian circles as a widening of the Iran-US conflict, which has already impacted the flow of energy supplies through the Strait of Hormuz. Iran has responded to the Israeli and US strikes with a wave of attacks targeting Israel and American military bases in countries such as Bahrain, Kuwait, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.