Sinking of Iranian warship casts shadow on India's role as net security provider: Experts

The sinking of the Iranian warship by a US submarine off the coast of Galle in Sri Lanka yesterday (4 March) has put the focus back on the big powers military presence in the Indian Ocean and raised serious questions about India's much-vaunted role as a net security provider to the navies of the smaller countries abutting the region.

The incident took place not far from India's south-western coast and the significance is not lost on anyone who knows that India has always considered the Indian Ocean strategically and commercially important. India keeps a close watch on China's growing naval presence in the Indian Ocean.  

Before one proceeds to assess the long-term implications of the sinking of the Iranian ship, it is necessary to understand two maritime security doctrines put forward by India under Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the last decade or so.

The first is SAGAR (Security and Growth For All In The Region) doctrine articulated by Modi in 2015 and covers a huge geographical expanse, mostly India's engagements with the countries situated in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR). The IOR includes countries of Africa (island nations and countries on the western coast of Africa), West Asia, particularly the Gulf States and countries in the eastern part of the Indian Ocean like Singapore and Malaysia.

Under the SAGAR vision, Indian Navy ships and aircraft were regularly deployed in the IOR to enhance maritime security and to address contingencies that may arise and undertook a number of missions to 16 countries for trans-shipment of disaster relief materials, COVID supplies and food assistance.  To enhance maritime cooperation, initiatives were taken in the field of training, technical support, hydrography and conduct of maritime security operations.

The Indian Navy established its presence in the IOR with its ships through mission-based deployments with the objective of undertaking sustained surveillance to enhance maritime domain awareness, address military challenges, pursue navy-to-navy cooperation and tackle contingencies such as piracy, drug/arms trafficking and natural calamities. The Indian Navy has round-the-year presence in Gulf of Aden, Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman, approaches to Malacca Strait, central and south Indian Ocean including air surveillance.

Keeping in mind the small island and Global South countries which depend on the sea for their livelihood, India has moved forward with the objective of a shared ocean. Over the past 11 years, Modi has defined India's maritime sector as a source of national strength, regional stability and global prosperity.

It was in March last year that the second doctrine was announced. Called MAHASAGAR (Mutual and Holistic Advancement for Security and Growth Across Regions) in March 2025, it is aimed at expanding India's global footprint.

It is in this backdrop that the sinking of the Iranian warship IRIS Dena "raises awkward and complex political, diplomatic and military questions for India," said the Indian Navy's retired officer and eminent strategic affairs analyst C Uday Bhaskar. More importantly, according to him, the incident "{challenges India's regional primacy."

"Given that the Dena was sunk 40 nautical miles from Sri Lanka, the politico-diplomatic optics are embarrassing for India, to say the least. Egg on the face comes to mind," Uday Bhaskar opined.

He said the incident raises two more questions on the diplomatic-military front. "One, was India unaware of such submarine activity in its proximate waters? If yes, this raises further questions on the competence index of India's underwater domain awareness. Two, if India was aware of such activity, was Delhi informed/apprised of the proposed US action when the Dena departed Visakhapatnam for Iranian waters?" 

"An affirmative answer to both these questions could lead to potentially discordant consequences for India, both in the domestic and regional context," the security analyst said.

Commending the Sri Lankan navy for the rescue operation for the Iranian ship, Uday Bhaskar asked if the Indian Navy could have provided aerial surveillance support to the Sri Lankan effort. He also asked, "Had a US platform been in similarly dire straits and there were American survivors at sea to be picked up – what would the Indian and regional response have been?"

The Indian Ocean region, said Uday Bhaskar, is critical as global shipping lanes, including ones for hydrocarbon/energy imports used by all the major Asian economies.

According to another strategic affairs analyst, Brahma Chellany, the US torpedoing of IRIS Dena "in India's maritime backyard is more than a battlefield event; it is a strategic embarrassment for New Delhi."

The sinking incident "raises uncomfortable questions about India's authority in its own backyard," he said.

Brahma Chellany said the incident "shatters" India's image as the Indian Ocean's "preferred security partner by demonstrating that a distant power can employ lethal force in India's maritime backyard without coordination."

He said that from India's point of view, the incident was "an unfriendly act that undermined India's diplomacy, its convening power and its claim to regional maritime leadership." End