Sri Lanka has sent home 238 Iranian military personnel, including 32 survivors of a US submarine attack that sank an Iranian naval vessel in the Indian Ocean in early March, officials confirmed on Friday.
The vessel, IRIS Dena, was torpedoed on March 4 while returning home after participating in a major naval parade organised by the Indian Navy. Of the 180 crew members on board, 87 were killed — their bodies recovered by the Sri Lankan navy — and 32 required hospitalisation. It was reportedly the first time since the Second World War that the United States had used a torpedo to sink a ship. The attack came during the opening days of a broader US and Israeli military campaign against Iran, while the Dena was sailing in international waters off the Sri Lankan coast.
The remaining repatriated sailors were crew members of a second Iranian warship that docked at a southern Sri Lankan port a day after the attack, citing technical problems. That vessel remains anchored off the island, with only a small number of crew still on board. The stranded sailors had been issued 30-day visas by Sri Lankan authorities while arrangements for their return were made.
Sri Lanka, an island nation in the Indian Ocean south of India, found itself navigating a delicate diplomatic position throughout the episode. The United States is a significant trade partner for the country, yet Sri Lanka also maintains longstanding friendly relations with Iran. Authorities were anxious to preserve a neutral stance in the conflict, and the question of whether to permit a second Iranian warship into its territorial waters placed the government in a difficult position. Ultimately, permission was granted.
The repatriation closes the immediate humanitarian chapter of an incident that drew international attention to Sri Lanka's exposure to great-power tensions in its own maritime neighbourhood. The episode underscored the broader pressures facing smaller nations seeking neutrality as conflicts between major powers spill into strategically important sea lanes.