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BEIJING (AP) — The annual session of China's National People's Congress is being held in Beijing.

China Congress

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NEW DELHI (AP) — The United States and Iran have offered sharply different accounts of thesinking of an Iranian warshipin the Indian Ocean last week, with Washington rejecting Tehran's claim the vessel was unarmed and Iranian officials insisting it was operating in a noncombat role.

India Iran US Israel

The United States Indo-Pacific Command on Sunday rejected Iran's claim that the warship IRIS Dena was unarmed when it was sunk in a submarine attack in international waters off Sri Lanka on March 4. In a statement on X, INDOPACOM called Iran's assertion that the vessel was unarmed "false."

The response followed strong objections from Tehran, which has repeatedly characterized the warship as defenseless, saying it was returning homeafter taking part in a naval exercise.

An Indian navy official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief the media, said the Iranian vessel was not "entirely unarmed" and had taken part in drills alongside other countries' warships.

Some experts have, however, suggested that visiting ships at such events typically do not carry a full combat load of live munitions unless scheduled for live-fire drills. They say even during the sea phase of exercises, ships generally carry only tightly-controlled ammunition limited to specific drills.

Rahul Bedi, an independent defense analyst based in India, said the vessel may have used some limited non-offensive ammunition during the naval exercises, but protocol requires "the participating platforms to be unarmed."

"The precondition of participating in such a parade, or such a ceremony, is that it (the vessel) comes unarmed. That is the precondition of the Indian Navy and it's a precondition of most navies when they hold such similar sort of fleet reviews," Bedi said.

Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Saeed Khatibzadeh said Friday that the warship, sunk by a U.S. torpedo, had not been carrying weapons and accused Washington of targeting a ceremonial vessel.

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"That vessel was by invitation of our Indian friends, attending an international exercise. It was ceremonial. It was unloaded. It was unarmed," he told reporters in New Delhi.

The IRIS Dena was sunk on March 4 in the Indian Ocean near Sri Lanka after being struck by a torpedo fired from a U.S. submarine, according to American and Iranian officials. The Sri Lankan navy rescued 32 sailors andrecovered 87 bodies.

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth described the IRIS Dena as a "prize ship" and said it "died a quiet death." Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi described the attack as "an atrocity at sea" and stressed that it had been "a guest of India's Navy."

Disputes over whether the vessel was armed have intensified tensions over the incident, which occurred as it was returning from multinational naval exercises in India, and raised questions about whether it was operating in a noncombat role when it was attacked.

India's defense ministry said in a statement after the exercises that "live firings as part of surface gun shoots, as well as anti-air firings, were also undertaken" by participating vessels.

The warship's sinking highlighted how theU.S.-Israeli war with Iranis spreading beyond the Middle East.

Two other Iranian vessels — the IRIS Bushehr and IRIS Lavan — aredocked in Sri Lankaand India after seeking assistance from the two countries.

Associated Press writer Aijaz Hussain in Srinagar, India, contributed to this report.

ISTANBUL (AP) — Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu is standing trial on Monday with more than 400 other defendants accused of widespread corruption in a case critics see as a politically motivated move against Turkey's opposition.

Imamoglu, who has been behind bars for nearly a year, is the main challenger to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's 23-year rule. He was elected as the main opposition party's candidate for an election due in 2028 just days after he was detained.

Most of the 402 defendants worked for the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, headed by Imamoglu since 2019. Many are elected officials from the Republican People's Party, or CHP, while journalists are also among the accused.

Imamoglu's arrest on March 19 last year sparked weeks of street protests, the largest seen in Turkey for more than a decade.

He faces 142 charges, including establishing the "Imamoglu criminal organization for profit" from 2015, when he was mayor of Istanbul's Beylikduzu district. The 3,900-page indictment alleges the goal was not just to enrich the accused through a system of bid-rigging and pay-offs but also to finance Imamoglu's rise in the CHP, ultimately resulting in his presidential candidacy.

If convicted he could face a total prison sentence exceeding 2,000 years.

In a newspaper article published Friday, Imamoglu described Monday's trial as "one of the toughest tests of democracy" in Turkey's history and an "attempt to overturn the will of the people."

The case is just one of the many indictments in which the 54-year-old mayor could be jailed and banned from politics. Others include claims of terrorism, espionage, falsifying his university diploma and insulting officials.

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In what government critics says is a broad judicial campaign against the opposition, elected CHP members, including mayors of other major cities, face separate terrorism and corruption allegations. The party's leadership itself is also under legal pressure over alleged irregularities surrounding its 2023 congress.

The scale and anticipated length of the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality trial, which could run for years, has seen authorities commission the building of a new courtroom at the prison complex in Silivri, west of Istanbul, where Imamoglu and many defendants are held. Until it is completed, participants will squeeze into an existing chamber at the prison.

To highlight what they see as the political nature of prosecutions against CHP members, Imamoglu's supporters and human rights groups point to a series of factors, including the role of Istanbul's chief prosecutor. Akin Gurlek, the deputy justice minister, was appointed to that office in late 2024, where he initiated a series of investigations targeting CHP figures. Last month, he returned to government as justice minister.

Critics also say the prosecution's reliance on "secret witnesses," whose identity is hidden from defense lawyers, and defendants testifying against their co-accused, contravene the right to a fair trial.

The government maintains that Turkey's judiciary is independent and impartial.

Benjamin Ward, Europe and Central Asia deputy director at Human Rights Watch, described the cases against the CHP over the past year as "weaponizing the criminal justice system."

"Looking at these cases as a whole, it's hard to avoid the conclusion that prosecutors are trying to remove Imamoglu from politics and discredit his party in ways that undermine democracy," he said.

Fraser reported from Ankara, Turkey.