- U.S. urges Sri Lanka not to repatriate Iranian ship crew
- U.S. submarine sank Iranian warship IRIS Dena near Sri Lanka
- Dozens killed; 32 survivors and other crew now in custody
- Sri Lanka escorting Iranian vessel Booshehr to eastern harbor
In the circumstances, the United States is pressurizing the Sri Lankan government to avoid sending Iranian sailors, who were rescued in a U.S. submarine explosion of an Iranian war ship in the Indian Ocean earlier this week, back home, according to a personal diplomatic cable to a Reuters report. That request is associated with the survivors of the Iranian naval ship IRIS Dena, that was in the water, in the sea, some 19 nautical miles off the Sri Lankan port of Galle, when the U.S. submarines attacked it.
The attack resulted in the death of dozens of sailors and was a significant increase in the conflict between Iran, the US, and Israel. As per Reuters, Sri Lankan officials saved 32 passengers on the Dena and have also detained 208 of the crew members of an Iranian second naval support ship, IRIS Booshehr, which had been grounded in the Sri Lankan exclusive economic zone.
The announcement of the U.S. Department of State, dated March 6, reported that the officials of the U.S. urged Sri Lanka to refrain from the intention to send back either group of the sailors back to Iran. The cable allegedly advised the Sri Lankan authorities to curtail any possibilities of Tehran taking advantage of the arrested sailors to propagate.
Diplomatic Pressure succeeds Infrequent Naval Strike
One of the main naval battles in decades in which the United States was involved is the torpedo attack on the IRIS Dena. U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth called the submarine strike a silent death mentioning the element of stealthiness of the torpedo attack. The United States failed to give a warning prior to the launch of the strike as stated by Reuters.
An official of the U.S who had spoken anonymously indicated that the Dena was armed during the attack. That the war ship was struck was a case, just incidental, as after taking part in multinational naval drills in the Bay of Bengal organized by India it was bound for Iran when it was hit. The event has expanded the geographic horizons of conflict between Iran and the United States that has received missile tests and military actions throughout the Middle East already.
The cable gave the message that Jayne Howell gave Sri Lankan authorities about the stand of Washington and asked them not to send the survivors of the Dena back to Iran as well as the crew of the Booshehr during the war. The document also reported that U.S diplomats told the Israeli ambassador to India and Sri Lanka that there was no intention to find a way to repatriate the crew. The cable says that the Israeli envoy enquired whether there were attempts in encouraging possible defections among the captured sailors.
Sri Lanka Walks On A Diplomatic Tightrope
the fine line between humanitarian intervention and diplomatic pressure. The government of Sri Lanka first presented its reaction to the situation as a humanitarian mission aimed at saving the lives of those in the ocean who belonged to the crew of a ship shipwrecked on the island. President Anura Kumara Dissanayake said it was the "humanitarian obligation of the country to accept the rescued crew members on board".
In response to the distress calls, Sri Lankan naval ships came in to rescue after sinking and conducted rescue operations on waters that were in the country maritime search-and-rescue zone. Officials have started taking the resued sailors and the crew to safe places. Most of the crew of the Booshehr ship was offloaded and officials at Sri Lanka announced that the vessel was being escorted to an eastern coast harbour on the island, and the vessel was to be relocated in a naval camp near Colombo.
This was after the deputy minister of Sri Lanka, health and mass media, Hansaka Wijemuni, told Reuters on Monday that body parts of sailors killed in the attack were requested by Iran to help it in repatriating the bodies back to their homeland.
He claimed that negotiations were in progress but they had not yet established a time frame through which the remains were to be handed back to Iran. The contents of the diplomatic cable have not been ever publicly commented on by the State Department of the U.S.
War Spreads to Indian Ocean
The sinking of the IRIS Dena indicates the extension of geographical horizon of the war between Washington and Tehran. The war-related military have continued to be spread both in the Middle East and into key maritime territories.
According to the defense analysts, "naval activities in the Indian Ocean may suggest the introduction of threats to international shipping routes and augment tension between the regional powers". The Sri Lankan participation in the rescue operation has put the island country in a delicate diplomatic status in an attempt to juggle humanitarian burdens and roadblock pressure by the larger world powers.
Until further notice, the authorities of Sri Lanka have indicated that the ship and its crew would be under their guard until the end of the conflict as the authorities evaluated the situation.
