Second Iranian Warship Approaches Sri Lanka After U.S. Sinks IRIS Dena as Colombo Faces Urgent Neutrality Test
Sri Lanka confirmed Thursday that a second Iranian vessel has entered the country’s Exclusive Economic Zone and requested permission to make an urgent port call, a day after a U.S. submarine sank the Iranian frigate IRIS Dena in nearby international waters while it was returning from naval exercises in India. Cabinet spokesman Nalinda Jayatissa told lawmakers that the vessel had been detected in Sri Lanka’s EEZ and was awaiting government clearance to enter port, placing Colombo at the centre of the widening maritime fallout from the U.S.–Israel war against Iran.
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| Representational Image: Alpha Defense |
The Iranian warship had been sailing back after participating in the Indian Navy’s International Fleet Review and MILAN naval exercises when it was hit by a U.S. submarine attack that reportedly killed dozens of Iranian sailors.
Sri Lankan authorities now face a delicate diplomatic decision over whether to allow the second Iranian vessel to dock. The issue was raised publicly by Sri Lankan parliamentarian Namal Rajapaksa, who urged the government to clarify its position and invoked a historic precedent from the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War.
Rajapaksa noted that then Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike had allowed a Pakistani aircraft to refuel in Colombo after India closed its airspace during the conflict, describing the move as a neutral humanitarian decision driven by necessity and friendship.
“It has been brought to our notice that another Iranian vessel is in Sri Lanka’s Exclusive Economic Zone just outside our territorial waters and has sought permission to make an urgent port call,” Rajapaksa wrote on social media, and urged the government to reveal its stance or adopt a similar neutral policy.
The arrival of the Iranian vessel comes as maritime tensions linked to the Iran war continue to escalate. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said earlier Thursday that it had targeted an American oil tanker in the northern Persian Gulf, claiming the ship was set ablaze during the attack.
The IRGC warned that under wartime conditions Iran considers navigation through the Strait of Hormuz to fall under its control and declared that vessels belonging to the United States, Israel and their allies would not be allowed to pass through the strategic waterway.
The confrontation at sea now shows that the war between the United States, Israel and Iran is rapidly expanding far beyond the Middle East battlefield and into key global shipping lanes stretching from the Persian Gulf to the Indian Ocean.