Iranian Warship IRIS Lavan Remains In India’s Kochi 6 Months After Seeking Refuge Amid U.S-Iran War

Iran’s Amphibious Landing Ship IRIS Lavan remains in India’s Port of Kochi, half a year after it requested emergency docking in the country, when the U.S-Iran war began in the Gulf and the security situation deteriorated.

The oversight of the ship has shifted to local authorities, and dozens of Iranian crew members at the nearby naval lodgings are handling its basic maintenance, per sources.

The warship’s extended stay is because of the escalation of hostilities between the U.S. and Iran, and fear that the enemy might attack the vessel, as a similar incident had occurred with IRIS Dena, which was sunk by a U.S. submarine torpedo, killing 87 personnel.

IRIS Lavan and the frigate IRIS Dena had sailed to Visakhapatnam, on the eastern coast of India, to participate in MILAN 2026, a multilateral naval exercise in February.

When the exercises concluded and the Iranian ships began their journey to Tehran, the U.S. and Israel launched attacks against Iran, which threw the region into turmoil, as many Gulf countries hosting U.S. military bases also became targets of attack.

This prompted the vessels to stay back in India for a while, and New Delhi accepted it on humanitarian grounds, as stated by the country’s External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar in the Parliament.

He also said that many personnel on the ships were young cadets who were not prepared to handle the critical emergency that their country has been caught in.

However, IRIS Dena decided to return home, which proved deadly as it was struck by the U.S., 40 km off Sri Lanka, close to Galle. After the incident, the Iranian replenishment ship IRIS Bushehr sought refuge in Sri Lanka in March 2026.

Of the 187 naval personnel on the IRIS Lavan, the non-essential crew members were flown safely to Tehran in a flight organised by the Indian Government.

This was the same Turkish Airlines Flight which had picked up the remains of IRIS Dena sailors who were killed in the U.S. attack and returned them home to their families.

As of now, over 50 Iranian crew are living in Kochi to carry out maintenance of the Iranian amphibious vessel while diplomatic discussions regarding its return continue.