Sri Lanka shelters second Iranian vessel amid US threat

• President insists Colombo is neutral, acting only to ‘safeguard lives’
• Araghchi calls US attack on ship in international waters ‘atrocity’
• New Delhi under fire after Navy-hosted ship’s sinking; Congress slams Modi’s ‘silence’, questions role as ‘security provider’ in Indian Ocean

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s navy assumed control of a second Iranian naval vessel and offloaded its crew on Thursday, its president said, moving to “safeguard lives” a day after a deadly US submarine attack sank another Iranian warship that had been a guest of neighbouring India.

In a televised address, President Anura Kumara Dissanayake said his country’s navy had offloaded 208 sailors from the IRIS Bushehr, which had requested port entry due to engine trouble.

The action came as rescuers continued to search for sailors missing from the IRIS Dena, which was torpedoed and sunk off Sri Lanka’s southern coast on Wednesday.

The sinking, which killed at least 87 sailors, was the first US military strike far outside the Middle East since the United States and Israel launched their war on Iran, dramatically widening the scope of the conflict.

“We are not taking sides in this conflict,” Dissanayake said. “But while maintaining our neutrality we are taking action to save lives. No person should die in a war like this. Every life is equally precious.”

The president said the Bushehr, like the sunken Dena, had recently participated in a multilateral naval exercise in eastern India.

Meanwhile, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi denounced the strike and warned Washington it would “bitterly regret” its actions.

“The US has perpetrated an atrocity at sea, 2,000 miles away from Iran’s shores,” Araghchi posted on X.

“Frigate Dena, a guest of India’s Navy, carrying almost 130 sailors, was struck in international waters without warning. Mark my words: The US will come to bitterly regret precedent it has set.”

Meanwhile, the grim task of managing the attack’s aftermath continued in the southern Sri Lankan port city of Galle.

Authorities began an inquest as the bodies of the 87 recovered Iranian sailors overwhelmed the local morgue, which can only handle about 25 bodies at a time. Hospital staff said refrigerated shipping containers were being rushed in to preserve the remains.

Sri Lankan military rescuers, who responded to the Dena’s distress call on Wednesday, said they found 32 survivors. A search operation for an estimated 10 missing sailors continued on Thursday.

The rescued Iranians were being treated under tight security provided by police and elite commandos.

Reaction in India

The attack sparked outrage in India, where both Iranian vessels had been honoured guests just weeks earlier. The Dena and Bushehr participated in MILAN, a biennial exercise hosted by India from Feb 18 to Feb 25, alongside warships from Sri Lanka, Australia, Japan, Russia, and representatives from over 70 nations.

India’s government, which has traditionally sought to maintain a careful diplomatic balance between the US and Iran, has remained silent on the attack, prompting sharp criticism from opposition leaders who said the sinking so close to India’s maritime neighbourhood warranted an official response.

The opposition Indian National Congress party slammed what it called the “silence” from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government and questioned New Delhi’s role as a net security provider in the Indian Ocean region..

“The conflict has reached our backyard, with an Iranian warship sunk in the Indian Ocean. Yet the Prime Minister has said nothing,” opposition leader Rahul Gandhi wrote in a post on X.

The criticism highlighted India’s delicate position. India’s navy had welcomed the Dena’s arrival as a reflection of long-standing cultural links, and videos have since circulated of Iranian sailors marching in the streets of the port city of Visakhapatnam during the exercise.

Published in Dawn, March 6th, 2026