Summary: Sri Lanka is navigating a delicate diplomatic situation after allowing a second Iranian naval vessel, the IRINS Bushehr, to dock and taking its crew ashore following the U.S. sinking of another Iranian warship nearby. The country's declared neutrality is being tested as it balances its strong economic ties with Iran against the risk of angering the United States and Israel. This incident highlights how regional conflicts can create difficult choices for neutral nations far from the epicenter.
Main Topics Covered:
* Sri Lanka's diplomatic neutrality being challenged by requests from Iranian vessels.
* The economic and political relationship between Sri Lanka and Iran.
* The spillover effects of regional conflict on neutral countries.
Supported by
Sri Lanka Is Caught in the Middle as Second Iranian Vessel Seeks Safe Haven
A day after rescuing Iranian sailors from the wreckage of a warship sunk by a U.S. submarine, Sri Lanka’s neutrality is being tested.
A day after an Iranian ship was torpedoed by the U.S. in the waters near Sri Lanka, the country’s president said his government has allowed a second Iranian ship to dock in one of its ports and allowed its crew into the country.
Appearing on television, President Anura Kumara Dissanayake of Sri Lanka said that the second Iranian naval vessel, the IRINS Bushehr, asked the Sri Lankan government if it could dock at one of the country’s ports.
Sri Lankan officials decided to bring the 208 people on the ship — 53 officers, 84 cadet officers, 48 senior sailors, 23 sailors — to Colombo, the capital, and take the ship into custody in Trincomalee, on the east coast, rather than in Colombo, one of the busiest commercial ports in the world.
Sri Lanka, which has taken a neutral position on the conflict, is being forced to weigh its self-interest against the possibility of angering the United States and Israel for helping Iran. At the same time, Sri Lanka’s navy continues to sieve from the water any wreckage from the destroyed warship, treat injured sailors and brace for the economic hit it might take as the war pushes up oil prices.
Sri Lanka’s plight is an example of the spillover effect of a regional conflict that is dragging in faraway countries. The war has already engulfed around a dozen countries in the six days since it started. On Thursday, Azerbaijan was hit by two Iranian drones, a day after NATO intercepted what it said was an Iranian missile headed in Turkey’s direction.
On Thursday, Sri Lanka’s foreign minister Vijitha Herath posted on X that he had spoken with his Iranian counterpart and “expressed grave concern over the escalation of hostilities.”
Sri Lanka and Iran have solid political and economic ties. The former bought $250 million worth of crude oil shipments from Iran before sanctions on the Middle Eastern country kicked in over its nuclear program. The two sides agreed to an “oil-for-tea” barter deal, which allows Sri Lanka to pay Iran in monthly installments of tea, a top export to Iran.
Bilateral ties are especially important for Sri Lanka, which has struggled to right its economy in recent years after defaulting on its sovereign debt. American tariffs have been an additional burden. Mr. Herath said on Wednesday that ties with Iran had “broadened significantly” under the tenure of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the recently slain Iranian leader. In January, he and Iran’s foreign minister spoke over the phone about Iran’s escalating hostilities with Israel and the United States, and said Sri Lanka was committed to strengthening relations.
That friendship is being put to the test this week, as the second ship, an auxiliary vessel, sought to dock in Sri Lanka.
The ship is sitting in Sri Lanka’s Exclusive Economic Zone, defined under United Nations maritime law as a stretch of sea, beyond a country’s territorial waters, to which it has sovereign exploration rights.
Mr. Dissanayake said that officials from the foreign ministries of Iran and Sri Lanka, along with diplomats and defense officials, had been in discussions since the call from the Bushehr came on Wednesday as the Sri Lankan government debated how to handle the issue after agreeing to take the ship into custody. The ship’s crew members had said that one of its engines was in trouble, and that Sri Lanka offered humanitarian help.
“Our seas and skies can’t be used by another nation for their own gain or to harm another nation,” Mr. Dissanayake said. “Our actions since the beginning of the incident have been in line with that stance.”
The IRIS Dena was also in Sri Lanka’s E.E.Z. when a U.S. submarine took it down using a torpedo.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth called the ship’s fate a “quiet death,” while Iran called the attack an “atrocity at sea.” India, which hosted the navy exercises that the Iran ships were returning from, has not commented.
On Thursday, the Sri Lanka Navy was still searching for sailors who are believed missing from the IRIS Dena, a day after it found 84 bodies in oil-slicked water, amid life rafts and other flotsam. The navy said it rescued 32 people, who were taken to the emergency ward of National Hospital Galle, one of the country’s biggest hospitals. It was unclear whether the ship was carrying 180 people, a number provided by Sri Lankan authorities, or 130, a number provided by Iranian officials.
The survivors were treated for burn injuries and other cuts and scrapes, and all except one were in mostly good shape. Some of the sailors were expected to be discharged from the hospital and taken to the Iranian Embassy in Colombo, the nation’s capital that is a half-hour drive away from Galle.
After Nalinda Jayatissa, the cabinet spokesman, disclosed the second ship’s presence to Sri Lanka’s Parliament on Thursday, the opposition leader, Sajith Premadasa, said that a country’s E.E.Z. “is for peaceful purposes, not for military action.” Such action within that zone is “a death blow to our sovereignty,” he said.
Anupreeta Das covers India and South Asia for The Times. She is based in New Delhi.
Related Content
Advertisement
Meridiano
