The United States is reportedly pressuring Sri Lanka not to repatriate the crew of the IRIS Booshehr, an Iranian ship that was allowed to dock in Trincomalee, as well as the survivors of the Iranian warship IRIS Dena, sunk earlier this week by a US submarine.
“Do not repatriate crew to Iran”
According to Reuters, an internal State Department cable dated March 6 said Jayne Howell, chargé d’affaires at the U.S. Embassy in Colombo, stressed to the Sri Lankan government that neither the crew of the Booshehr nor the 32 survivors of the Dena should be repatriated to Iran.
“Sri Lankan authorities should minimize Iranian attempts to use detainees for propaganda,” it said.
The cable said Howell also told Israel’s ambassador to India and Sri Lanka that there was no plan to repatriate the crew to Iran. The envoy asked Howell if there had been any encounter with the crew to encourage “defecation,” the cable said.
The sinking of the IRIS Dena
The IRIS Dena, an Iranian warship that was bound for Iran after taking part in a naval exercise in India, was sunk by the US in the Indian Ocean about 19 nautical miles off the southern Sri Lankan port city of Galle on Wednesday.
Read also | IRIS Dena was not a ‘guest of India’ after departure on February 25: Govt sources
More than 80 sailors on board were killed and many more are still missing. A total of 32 people were rescued from IRIS Dena by Sri Lankan authorities.
Sri Lanka’s Deputy Health and Media Minister Hansaka Wijemuni told Reuters on Wednesday that Tehran had asked Colombo to help repatriate the bodies of those killed aboard the Dena, but a timeframe for doing so had not yet been set.
According to Iranian officials, the IRIS Dena was unarmed at the time it was hit. However, an unnamed US official told Reuters that the Dena was armed when it was hit and that the United States had given no warning before the attack was carried out.
Sri Lanka allows second Iranian ship to dock
The IRIS Bushehr, a replenishment vessel, sought emergency docking in Sri Lanka on March 4 after damage to one of its engines was reported.
Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake said his island nation had a “humanitarian responsibility” to receive the crew.
On Thursday, Sri Lanka began offloading 208 crew members from the IRIS Booshehr at a naval base near Colombo, after which it is currently moving to a port on the east coast.
Read also | What is Milan 2026, the Indian Navy exercise in which IRIS Dena participated?
A State Department cable said the other vessel, the Booshehr, would remain in custody in Sri Lanka for the duration of the conflict.
The sinking of the IRIS Dena by torpedo, the first such action by the US since World War II, raised concerns about the expanding geographic scope of the conflict.
India allowed Iranian ships to dock in Kochi
On Friday, government sources said that days before the IRIS Dena sank, India had allowed another Iranian vessel to dock at the Kochi port.
IRIS Lavan, Iran’s Hengam-class amphibious assault ship, was allowed to dock in India after seeking emergency shelter on February 28, citing technical problems.
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IRIS Lavan was allowed to dock on March 1 and docked at Kochi on March 4.
The 183 crew members of the IRIS Lavan are currently housed at the Indian Navy’s facilities in Kochi.
Key things
- The US is actively influencing Sri Lanka’s treatment of Iranian crew members amid rising tensions.
- The sinking of the IRIS Dena marks a significant escalation in US-Iranian relations.
- Humanitarian responsibility collides with geopolitical strategies in complex international scenarios.
