US Sinks Iranian Frigate Off Lanka, Brings War to South Asian Waters; Trump’s Iran War Reckless But Is His Political Call, Unlike Modi Passing China Buck to Army Chief; Cooking Gas Shortages Expected
A newsletter from The Wire | Founded by Sidharth Bhatia, Siddharth Varadarajan, Sushant Singh, Seema Chishti, MK Venu, Pratik Kanjilal and Tanweer Alam | Contributing writers: Kalrav Joshi, Anirudh SK
If you like our work and want to support us, then do subscribe. Sign up with your email address by clicking on this link and choose the FREE subscription plan. Do not choose the paid options on that page because Stripe – the payment gateway for Substack, which hosts The India Cable – does not process payments for Indian nonprofits.Our newsletter is paywalled but once a week we lift the paywall so newcomers can sample our content. To take out a fresh paid subscription or to renew your existing monthly or annual subscription, please click on the special payment page we have created – https://rzp.io/rzp/the-india-cable.Note: Today’s edition of the India Cable is shorter than usual due to Holi
Snapshot of the day
March 4, 2026
Siddharth Varadarajan
Hours after the Sri Lankan authorities said an Iranian naval ship, IRIS Dena, had been attacked and sunk by an unidentified submarine in international waters some 40 nautical miles off the coast of Galle, the United States’s Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, said the US Navy was responsible and released footage of the torpedo strike.
Having sunk the ship, the US submarine left the area and made no attempt to rescue the survivors. Sri Lanka rushed support vessels to the spot in response to a distress call and managed to rescue some 32 Iranian crew members. It is estimated that 87 sailors lost their lives, making this the second deadliest strike in the five day war launched by the US and Israel against Iran after the killing of 168 schoolchildren in Minab, Iran on the first day.
The torpedoing of the Iranian frigate is a slap on the face of India because the IRIS Dena had just been a guest of the Indian Navy for the Indian Fleet review 2026 and Milan2026 naval exercise in Visakhapatnam.
https://x.com/IN_HQENC/status/2023728376276725823?s=20
Though the Iranian vessel was torpedoed in international waters off the Lankan coast, it is evident that the US submarine had been tracking its movement from when it left Visakhapatnam. India’s inability to detect the presence of a foreign submarine with hostile intent in its neighbourhood and ensure safe passage for a ship it had invited through waters where the Indian Navy regularly patrols and considers its sphere of influence is a blow to its ambitions as a ‘net security provider’. Admiral Arun Prakash calls the torpedoing a “shocking incident” and an “irresponsible act”. But there is more, as Brahma Chellaney notes:
“The U.S. torpedoing of the Iranian frigate IRIS Dena in India’s maritime backyard is more than a battlefield event; it is a strategic embarrassment for New Delhi. The ship had just participated in India’s flagship MILAN-2026 naval exercise, where, along with 18 other foreign warships, it sailed as a diplomatic guest of the Indian Navy.
By sinking a vessel returning from an Indian-hosted multilateral exercise, Washington effectively turned India’s maritime neighborhood into a war zone, raising uncomfortable questions about India’s authority in its own backyard.
In diplomatic terms, the strike violated the unwritten code of naval hospitality. Attacking a ship immediately after it leaves a host’s waters is widely seen as a slight to that host. The message to participating navies is stark: attending India’s exercises may not guarantee safety once they sail away.
The implications go deeper. Prime Minister Modi’s MAHASAGAR vision — positioning India as the Indian Ocean’s “preferred security partner” — rests on the idea that New Delhi can convene cooperation and maintain stability in the region. The U.S. strike shattered that image by demonstrating that a distant power can employ lethal force in India’s maritime backyard without coordination.
Worse, the attack occurred near Sri Lanka, just south of India’s maritime boundary, precisely the space India hopes to keep insulated from Middle Eastern wars. Instead, the Indian Ocean suddenly looks like an extension of that conflict… In one torpedo strike, American hard power has punctured India’s carefully cultivated soft power.”
In a series of tweets, Sushant Singh called the sinking of the IRIS Dena just hours after it left Indian waters “a massive blow to New Delhi’s regional credibility”:
“In all likelihood, the Trump administration bypassed the Modi govt entirely, launching a lethal submarine strike to expand the warzone without prior notice.
”What India's non-negotiables are: protecting commerce and energy routes, avoiding entanglement in US–Iran escalation, and preventing any normalisation of third‑party kinetic actions so close to its maritime periphery. All of them have been challenged by the US naval action.
”Coda: There is a strictly technical aspect, that the Iranian ship was in international waters. But as everyone knows, it was going from an Indian fleet review, through what is not an active war zone and definitely an area of India's influence. That is why it crosses a fat line.
”Think of it slightly differently. If the same ship was close to Chinese waters, and coming from a PLAN fleet review, would the US have dared to blow the ship out of the waters? The answer is no. But it does so for India, and that tells you all you need to know about the Modi govt.”
As the USIS war on Iran continues, India’s energy sector may be feeling the
