Iranian ship asks to dock in Sri Lankan port after US sinking of frigate

Original article by Hannah Ellis-Petersen in Delhi and Aanya Wipulasena in Galle

A second Iranian ship has been reported in waters close to Sri Lanka and has sought emergency permission to dock, a day after a US submarine sank an Iranian frigate killing more than 80 people onboard.

The Sri Lankan minister Nalinda Jayatissa told parliament that another Iranian vessel was sailing close to Sri Lanka’s territorial waters on Thursday morning. “We are making necessary interventions to resolve this issue, restrict the threat to lives and to ensure regional security,” said Jayatissa.

Sources told the Guardian the ship was a logistical pipe-laying vessel, which is not categorised as a warship. It may be as close as 10 nautical miles from the western coast of Sri Lanka, putting it within the country’s sovereign waters.

The sources said the ship, which is reported to have a crew of more than 100 onboard, had made an urgent request to dock at Colombo port for engine repairs.

On Tuesday, a US torpedo destroyed the Iris Dena, an Iranian warship, as it headed back home after taking part in a military training exercise in India. The deadly submarine attack quickly sank the vessel and killed at least 87 sailors.

According to the Sri Lankan opposition MP Namal Rajapaksa, the ship has sought the government’s permission to make an urgent port call but is yet to be given clearance.

The president of Sri Lanka, 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 US-Israeli assault on Iran which began over the weekend and was the first incident of the conflict to spread beyond the Middle East.

In the first Iranian response to the attack, the country’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, said the US would “bitterly regret” the attack. “The U.S. has perpetrated an atrocity at sea, 2,000 miles away from Iran’s shores,” he said, in a statement on X. “Frigate Dena, a guest of India’s Navy carrying almost 130 sailors, was struck in international waters without warning.”

The Sri Lankan navy and coastguard had responded to a distress call from the ship in the early hours of Wednesday morning, but by the time they arrived, the vessel had sunk and there was only an oil slick remaining, with survivors clinging on to life rafts.

The navy’s rescue operation for missing sailors onboard the Iris Dena continued on Thursday, with at least six more bodies retrieved from the sea.

Interactive

Officials at the main hospital in Galle, where survivors were taken, said 32 rescued Iranians were still being treated under tight security provided by police and military personnel.

Authorities were also making preparations to hand over to Iranian diplomatic officials the remains of 87 Iranian sailors killed by the US torpedo attack.

The Sri Lankan government confirmed that Iran had requested assistance in repatriating the bodies of sailors recovered from the Iris Dena.