India, March 6 -- Iranian vessel IRIS Dena was "unarmed and unloaded" during its journey back after participating in the naval exercise in India, Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Saeed Khatibzadeh claimed on Friday, days after a US submarine torpedoed the warship in the Indian Ocean off Sri Lanka's coast.

Khatibzadeh, who is visiting India amid the ongoing US-Iran conflict that has caught several other Middle Eastern countries in between, condemned the attack on the Iranian vessel that led to the killing of 87 sailors. "This is a very sad, very unfortunate incident. That vessel was by invitation of our Indian friends, attending an international exercise. It was ceremonial. It was unloaded. It was unarmed," he was quoted as saying by news a...