New Delhi: On the same day the US and Israel commenced their attacks on Iran, Tehran asked India that its IRIS Lavan warship that was in the region for an Indian Navy exercise be allowed to dock in Kochi, with New Delhi granting approval the next day, Indian government sources revealed on Friday (March 6).Iran in its “urgent” request on February 28 had cited “technical issues” with the Lavan, government sources said days after a US submarine torpedoed the IRIS Dena frigate off Sri Lanka’s southern coast killing 87 people on board. India on March 1 approved for it to dock in Kochi, and the vessel’s crew of 183 persons are currently in the southern port after it docked there on Wednesday, the sources added.A US submarine torpedoed the Dena off Sri Lanka’s southern coast early on Wednesday, following which Sri Lankan personnel rescued 32 people on board and recovered 87 bodies. Days prior, the frigate had docked in Visakhapatnam to take part in the International Fleet Review and MILAN exercises organised by the Indian Navy.India responded to the Dena‘s sinking a day later, with the Navy issuing a press release that did not mention the US submarine attack and saying it despatched a marine patrol aircraft hours after the sinking. A training vessel was rerouted to the search area on Wednesday evening, it added.It is only on Friday that India has revealed the Lavan is in Kochi and had asked to dock there. Sources said the warship was in the region for the International Fleet Review.Earlier, Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake said that Iran on February 26 – two days before the US-Israeli strikes began – had requested permission for three vessels, the Dena, the IRIS Bushehr and a third unidentified one, to enter one of its ports between March 9 and 13.A day later, Sri Lanka upon being informed that an individual aboard the Bushehr had suffered an injury brought them along with an officer ashore for treatment. But the Bushehr on March 4 asked to dock at the island that day or the next, the president said, and when his government was subsequently told the ship had experienced engine damage, it was decided to have most of its crew disembark at Colombo but transport the vessel itself to the eastern port of Trincomalee.“Retaining such a vessel within our main commercial port carries the risk of adversely affecting our maritime industry,” the Sri Lankan outlet economynext quoted him as saying.The Sri Lankan president had neither named the third Iranian vessel for which the request was received nor mentioned its fate.Meanwhile, Reuters reported on Friday night that the US has urged Colombo not to repatriate the Dena‘s 32 survivors or those aboard the Bushehr to Iran. The news agency cited an internal state department cable as also saying that “Sri Lankan authorities should minimise Iranian attempts to use the detainees for propaganda”.Washington’s charge-d’affaires in Colombo, Jayne Howell, had told Israel’s envoy to India and Sri Lanka that the latter had no plans to repatriate the ships’ passengers, to which the latter asked whether efforts are being made to encourage them to ‘defect’, Reuters reported.India’s response to the Dena‘s sinking and its decision to allow the Lavan to dock at Kochi comes amid its relatively muted reaction to the US-Israeli attack on Iran. Its first official acknowledgment of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s assassination came only on Thursday when foreign secretary Vikram Misri signed his condolence book at the Iranian mission in New Delhi.While external affairs minister S. Jaishankar has spoken to his Iranian counterpart Abbas Araghchi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has not phoned the leadership in Tehran. He did call his opposite numbers in various Gulf nations and in many cases – without naming Iran – condemned its attacks on their soil.Both India’s response to the sinking of the Dena and to Khamenei’s killing have drawn criticism from various quarters.This story was edited to correct an error at 1:30 am on Saturday. It was also updated with additional information at 2:19 am.