New Delhi: India has declined claims that the US was using its ports to strike Iran. The Ministry of External Affairs made this response after a video interview of former US Army Colonel Douglas Macgregor with a US-based channel, One America News Network, claimed that the US was using Indian naval bases in its war against Iran.
“All of our bases have been destroyed. Our harbour installations are destroyed. We are actually having to fall back on India and Indian ports, which is less than ideal; that is what the navy says,” he was heard saying in the interview.
The MEA’s fact check account on social media rejected such claims. “We caution you against such baseless and fabricated comments,” it posted
on X.
Meanwhile, the sinking of an Iranian warship by a US submarine off the coast of Sri Lanka has raised concerns for India as well, a Sri Lankan parliamentarian told NDTV. He warned that the widening conflict involving Iran is now affecting the broader Indian Ocean region.
The Iranian Navy frigate IRIS Dena was torpedoed and sunk by a United States submarine in the Indian Ocean on Wednesday, near the Sri Lanka coast, according to US officials. The ship was returning to Iran after participating in the International Fleet Review 2026 in Visakhapatnam, India, when it was attacked in international waters.
Sri Lankan authorities launched a rescue operation after receiving a distress signal from the vessel. The Sri Lanka Navy rescued 32 Iranian sailors and recovered 87 bodies, while dozens of others remain missing. Officials said the ship had around 180 crew members on board at the time of the incident.
The Sri Lankan lawmaker said the sinking of the warship so close to Sri Lanka shows that tensions are no longer confined to the Persian Gulf region and are now impacting the wider Indian Ocean.