A second Iranian vessel has been reported in waters near Sri Lanka and has asked for emergency permission to dock, a day after a U.S. submarine sank an Iranian frigate, killing more than 80 people on board.
Sri Lankan minister Nalinda Jayatissa told parliament that another Iranian ship was sailing close to the country’s territorial waters on Thursday morning. “We are taking the necessary steps to resolve this matter, limit the danger to lives and safeguard regional security,” Jayatissa said.
Sources told CuriosityNews the craft is a logistical pipe‑laying ship, which is not classified as a warship. It may be as near as 10 nautical miles from Sri Lanka’s western coast, placing it within the nation’s sovereign waters.
The sources added that the vessel, reported to have a crew of more than 100, had made an urgent request to berth at Colombo port for engine repairs.
On Tuesday, a U.S. torpedo destroyed the Iris Dena, an Iranian warship, as it was returning home after participating in a military training exercise in India. The swift submarine strike sank the ship and killed at least 87 sailors.
Sri Lankan opposition MP Namal Rajapaksa said the ship has asked the government for permission to make an urgent port call but has not yet received clearance.
President Anura Kumara Dissanayake was meeting with his cabinet and defence officials on Thursday to decide on a response.
The targeting of the Iris Dena marked an escalation of the U.S.–Israeli pressure on Iran that began over the weekend and was the first incident of the conflict to extend beyond the Middle East.
In Iran’s first reaction to the attack, foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said the United States would “bitterly regret” the strike. “The U.S. has committed an atrocity at sea, 2,000 miles from Iran’s shores,” he wrote on X. “Frigate Dena, a guest of India’s navy carrying almost 130 sailors, was hit in international waters without warning.”
The Sri Lankan navy and coastguard responded to a distress call from the ship in the early hours of Wednesday, but by the time they arrived the vessel had sunk, leaving only an oil slick and survivors clinging to life rafts.
The navy’s rescue operation for the missing sailors aboard the Iris Dena continued on Thursday, with at least six more bodies recovered from the sea.
Officials at the main hospital in Galle, where survivors were taken, said 32 rescued Iranians were still receiving treatment under tight security provided by police and military personnel.
Authorities were also preparing to hand over to Iranian diplomatic officials the remains of the 87 Iranian sailors killed by the U.S. torpedo attack.
The Sri Lankan government confirmed that Iran had asked for assistance in repatriating the bodies of sailors recovered from the Iris Dena.
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