Iranians bid farewell to sailors martyred in US attack
Thousands of Iranians took to the streets of the capital Tehran on Tuesday to participate in a funeral ceremony held for the crew members of an Iranian destroyer attacked by the United States earlier this month in the Indian Ocean.
According to Iran’s Army, the Dena destroyer was targeted by a US submarine on March 3 while returning from the MILAN 2026 Naval Exercise in India.
The attack on the destroyer claimed the lives of 104 crew members. The bodies of 84 sailors have been returned to the country while 20 others still remain missing.
The attack on the destroyer, which was carried out hundreds of miles away from the war zone, also injured 32 others who were transferred to a hospital in Sri Lanka for medical treatment.
The Army said in its statement that the US Navy violated international maritime regulations by opening fire on the destroyer without prior warning.
Carrying the pictures of the martyrs and waiving black flags and Iran’s flags, the mourners chant slogans against the United States and the Israeli regime, which began their unprovoked aggression against Iran on February 28.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian in a message on Tuesday called for the massive participation of Iranians in the funeral ceremony.
The president said the “enemies of freedom and security, in a major crime and an unfair and reckless attack, violating all international, ethical, and human laws, martyred these honorable soldiers of the nation and once again revealed their terrorist nature to the world”.