Sri Lankan sailors on Thursday began offloading 208 crew members from an Iranian naval vessel and moved to detain the ship at Trincomalee, a step President Anura Kumara Dissanayake described as humanitarian and neutral.
The move came as search teams kept looking for missing sailors from an Iranian frigate sunk by a U.S. submarine off the island nation's south coast.
Dissanayake said the Iranian vessel requested access to Sri Lankan ports the day the frigate IRIS Dena went down.
He said the decision to take control of the ship and move its crew ashore followed talks with the vessel's captain and Iranian Embassy officials, with some sailors remaining aboard to help Sri Lanka's navy navigate the ship to Trincomalee.
Sri Lanka's move came as the country dealt with the aftermath of the attack on the IRIS Dena, which prompted a distress call and a rescue operation.
Sri Lankan authorities said they found 32 survivors, recovered 87 bodies, and continued searching for about 10 people still unaccounted for.
Iran's foreign minister, Abbas Aragchi, said the frigate was struck in international waters without warning while returning from an Indian-organized naval exercise.
Aragchi, writing on X, warned that the United States would regret the precedent, and Sri Lankan officials said Iran has asked for help repatriating the bodies. No timeline has been set.
The Iranian vessel, identified as the fleet supply ship IRIS Bushehr, was surrendered by its captain for confinement.
A neutral-state 24-hour ceiling (with exceptions) is a long-standing rule of neutrality for belligerent warships in neutral territorial waters and ports.
This means a neutral country can let a warship from a warring side enter its waters or port only briefly — usually up to 24 hours — unless an emergency, such as damage or bad weather, necessitates a longer stay.
Neutrality rules are meant to stop either side from seeking haven in neutral territory.
At least one Iranian warship, the IRIS Dena, is confirmed sunk off Sri Lanka.
Beyond that confirmed sinking, U.S. Central Command said on Wednesday it had already sunk 17 Iranian warships since the U.S. operation began.
Reuters contributed to this report.
Jim Thomas ✉
Jim Thomas is a writer based in Indiana. He holds a bachelor's degree in Political Science, a law degree from U.I.C. Law School, and has practiced law for more than 20 years.
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