An Iranian warship destroyed in a US torpedo strike on Wednesday was “defenceless” and participating in an international naval exercise as a guest of the Indian navy, according to reports.
Former Indian Foreign Secretary Kanwal Sibal said “the Iranian ship will not be where it was if we had not invited it to talk [sic] part in our Milan exercise”. Sibal added that because it was taking part in an exercise “it was defenceless”.
Indian politician Supriya Shrinate said on social media: "These Iranian navy men parading at an event in India, were our guests. Invited by us.
“US submarine targeted their ship and killed them while they were returning home.” Shrinate also criticised Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his failure to make a statement on the attack.
I mean… The war is extremely illegal and is being carried out at the direction of some of the most evil people alive. But I don’t think “cowardly” fits here. If you are at war (ignoring the legality and morality of the war itself) and your enemy publicly reveals a location of one of their military assets, at a time and place where you know it will be defenseless and entirely devoid of civilians, is it really “cowardly” to attack it? If it’s “cowardly” because it was an ambush attack, may I remind you that essentially all warfare over the last century has been composed almost entirely of ambush attacks?
Again, the war itself is disgusting. People should be publicly hanged for this. But I really don’t see how the word “cowardly” fits into this particular attack.
This is the reason why attacking military and attacking civilians are considered different. Civilians are defenseless. They do not carry weapons. Attacking a defenseless warship, where it went for a military exercise with a non-adversary country is cowardly. Ambush is not the problem here.
Edit: (from the post link)
Yeah, we’re well past the initial attack. I’m not sure why anyone would think the ship would be safe to return to an Iranian port. It seems kinda silly to think the US would wait until the ship was rearmed before engaging.
Is there something I’m missing?
The Iranian ship was participating in the military exercise last month. This specific ship was nowhere near US or Israel, not even in active combat. Why would they attack it?
…are you really asking why they would take out a military vessel with no defenses, no civilians at risk, far away from support, against a country they are actively fighting against?
Have you not heard the word “war” before?