New Delhi, March 6 Two days after a US submarine torpedoed and sank an Iranian warship off the coast of Sri Lanka, Iran on Friday warned that the attack on an "unarmed ship" cannot go unpunished.
The Iranian frigate, IRIS Dena, was returning home after participating in the Milan multilateral naval exercise hosted by India. At least 87 Iranian sailors were killed in the attack, which marked a major escalation in the conflict between the US and Iran outside the Persian Gulf.
Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Saeed Khatibzadeh, who is visiting India, emphasised that the IRIS Dena was in a non-combat configuration, returning from the Milan naval exercises, and the US action against it was a serious violation of international law.
"This is a very sad, very unfortunate incident. That vessel was at the invitation of our Indian friends, attending an international exercise. It was ceremonial. It was unarmed," he said.
"It is very unfortunate. Many of the young Iranian sailors who were attending these exercises lost their lives. It cannot go unpunished for those who actually did that," he told reporters on the sidelines of the Raisina Dialogue.
IRIS Dena was part of India's premier multilateral maritime exercise, Milan. The warship had also featured in the International Fleet Review in Vishakapatnam last month.
Khatibzadeh, criticizing the US for killing Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said "cherry-picking" of international law cannot be acceptable.
"Unfortunately, principles of international law have been attacked, and we have to stand together against these atrocities. The Americans have assassinated the head of another state. If it is the new norm, then nobody, no country on earth can actually have diplomatic relations with other countries," he said.
The Iranian deputy foreign minister said Tehran's priority now is to "exercise ultimate resistance against the aggressor."
"We are under attack, under invasion by Americans and Israelis, and they are trying to impose maximum damage on Iran. As we are speaking, my fellow citizens are under constant attack," he said.
"Tehran is under constant attack, and we have no option but to resist to the last bullet that we do have and to the last soldier that we have. This is a very heroic, very nationalistic battle for us, and we have to stop the aggressor," he said.
Khatibzadeh also responded to a question on India's position on the West Asia crisis.
"Iran and India have all civilisational roots with each other. We are Indo-Persian culture and civilisation and it is very much in line with this cultural civilisational heritage, and we attach great importance to Iran-India relations," he said.
The Iranian deputy foreign minister described Iran's fight against the US and Israel as "resistance for the history, for the region, for the world, for the principles of international law."
"We are going to resist, and this is for the record of history. Iranians are sacrificing because rogue, reckless behaviour is happening against Iran. This is what we are doing. I think the moment they stop the aggression, we are going to have a new dynamism in the region," he said.
The Iranian Supreme Leader was killed in an Israel-US strike on February 28.
India on Thursday condoled the killing of Khamenei against the backdrop of scathing criticism of the government by opposition parties for its silence on the assassination as well as on sinking of the Iranian ship by the US off the Sri Lankan coast.
Following the military offensive, Iran has carried out a wave of attacks mainly targeting Israel and American military bases in several Gulf countries, including the UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait, Jordan and Saudi Arabia.
In the last three days, the conflict has widened significantly with attacks and counter-attacks by both sides, triggering fears of a prolonged war in West Asia.