A confidential diplomatic cable has revealed that the United States has reportedly urged Sri Lanka not to repatriate Iranian sailors rescued after a dramatic submarine strike, placing Colombo at the center of a sensitive geopolitical standoff involving Washington, Tehran, and regional security interests in the Indian Ocean.
Sri Lanka has found itself in the middle of an escalating international controversy following reports that the United States urged the government not to return Iranian naval personnel currently under Sri Lankan care. The request reportedly concerns survivors from the Iranian warship IRIS Dena and the crew of the support vessel IRIS Booshehr.
The IRIS Dena was destroyed in a torpedo attack carried out by a United States submarine in the Indian Ocean approximately nineteen nautical miles from the port of Galle. The vessel had been returning to Iran after participating in a multinational naval exercise in India. The strike reportedly killed many sailors and is widely described as the first publicly acknowledged submarine attack by the United States since the Second World War.
Following the incident, Sri Lankan naval authorities rescued survivors and also brought ashore two hundred and eight crew members from the Iranian support ship IRIS Booshehr which had been operating near Sri Lankan waters.
According to a confidential United States State Department cable dated March six and seen by Reuters, the US Embassy in Colombo requested Sri Lanka to delay returning the sailors to Iran. Diplomats reportedly warned that the survivors could be used by Tehran for propaganda purposes during the ongoing conflict.
President Anura Kumara Dissanayake has stated that providing assistance to the victims is Sri Lanka’s humanitarian responsibility under international maritime law.
