Tehran, March 18 (ANI): A funeral procession for the sailors of the Iranian naval vessel IRIS Dena was held Tuesday at the Imamzadeh Saleh shrine in northern Tehran, Press TV reported.
The Islamic Republic of Iran Ship Dena sank on March 4 after the frigate was reportedly struck by a US torpedo and went down about 40 nautical miles off the coast of Galle, Sri Lanka.
State media posted on X: “Procession of the martyrs of the IRIS Dena at the Imamzadeh Saleh shrine in northern Tehran,” alongside images of the ceremony.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian expressed condolences and condemned the US strike as an “inhumane crime.” In a post on X, he wrote that Iran mourns the loss of “20 eternal masterpieces and 84 innocent sea-lovers,” saying the names of the fallen would endure “like the steadfast peaks of Dena” and offering solidarity with their families and naval comrades.
India deployed INS Tarangini and INS Ikshak, along with maritime patrol aircraft such as P-8Is, to assist Sri Lanka-led search and rescue efforts for the stricken frigate.
Of an estimated 180 crew aboard IRIS Dena, more than 80 sailors have been reported dead. Other survivors were rescued by the Sri Lankan Navy and taken to hospitals in Galle.
The incident occurred amid an escalating conflict that began on February 28 with the reported killing of 86-year-old Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in joint strikes by the US and Israel. Iran’s subsequent retaliatory attacks on Israeli and US assets in several Gulf countries and Israel disrupted shipping lanes and affected international energy markets and global economic stability. Following Ali Khamenei’s death, Mojtaba Khamenei was named the new Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic. (ANI)
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