On the evening of February 19, a group of students from various colleges in Visakhapatnam stood on the steps of the Beach View Holiday Home hotel on R K Beach Road, watching sailors from several countries march past.

Among them were sailors from Iran, who were in India for the International Fleet Review (IFR) and Milan 2026 naval exercises. “The students were among thousands who turned up to watch the parade. I specifically recall seeing the Iranian contingent, though there were sailors from other countries too. It was quite a spectacle. They posed for selfies and took photos of the beach… As a hotelier, I always hope that whoever visits beautiful Vizag returns home safely,” said Suresh K, the hotel owner.

After the naval exercise, the Iranian warship IRIS Dena was returning from Visakhapatnam when it was torpedoed by a United States submarine off the southern coast of Sri Lanka in the early hours of Wednesday. Most of the crew members on board the ship are dead or missing.

During their time in India, some of the Iranian sailors visited the Rushikonda hilltop known as Kailasagiri, the Victory at Sea War Memorial, the submarine museum, and the Sankalp Art Village on the outskirts of Vizag. “Much of their time ashore was spent with naval officers,” an official said.

President Droupadi Murmu had also visited Vizag for the exercise, which saw the participation of 85 ships, including 19 foreign warships. The Indian fleet included 60 ships of the Indian Navy, four Indian Coast Guard vessels, and one ship each from the Shipping Corporation of India and the National Institute of Ocean Technology.

On February 19, as he inaugurated Exercise Milan in Vizag, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh called on the international community to effectively tackle the evolving, complex, and interconnected challenges at sea while acting in the spirit of mutual respect and give-and-take, a PIB press release read.

The sailors had disembarked in Visakhapatnam days earlier, between February 13 and 15. The foreign naval officers also travelled to see the Taj Mahal and Bodh Gaya. “They experienced the beauty of Taj Mahal and the profound sanctity of Mahabodhi temple where Lord Buddha attained enlightenment,” a press note from the Visakhapatnam defence establishment said.

At the march past on R K Beach Road, the Governor of Andhra Pradesh, S Abdul Nazeer, was the Chief Guest. The event was hosted by Admiral Dinesh K Tripathi, Chief of the Naval Staff. A naval officer said that the chief of the Iranian Navy, Rear Admiral Shahram Irani, and Abuzar Zarri, Commanding Officer of IRIS Dena, were also present.

“There were cross-deck visits by Iranian crew to Indian warships, and Indian Navy personnel went aboard the Iranian ship. Young officers interacted with one another,” an official said. “They were a jovial bunch. We all enjoyed their time here.”

“On their last day, they went sightseeing and shopping. They were impressed with the glass skywalk at Kailasagiri,” one of their Navy guides recalled.

“They were young men in their twenties, awed by the warm welcome they received,” a Navy officer said. “While shopping, they chose traditional Indian weaves for their families back home.”

A member of the A P Gramin Vikas Bank, which has an office on the Beach Road, said, “It was a beautiful parade; I remember seeing the Iranian sailors. The day before, I watched the rehearsals. The sailors posed for selfies and interacted with locals. It is disturbing to know that those who marched past our beach road just days ago met this fate.”

In a post on X, Iran’s F oreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi said the IRIS Dena was “a guest of India’s Navy”. “The US has perpetrated an atrocity at sea, 2,000 miles away from Iran’s shores. Frigate Dena, a guest of India’s Navy carrying almost 130 sailors, was struck in international waters without warning. Mark my words: The U.S. will come to bitterly regret precedent it has set,” he wrote.