Iran’s embassy paid for a weekend transfer that brought at least 40 sailors from U.S.-sanctioned tankers ashore in Sri Lanka for urgent medical treatment, AFP reported Sunday.
Officials said the sailors reached shore over the weekend at Galle, roughly 115 kilometers south of Colombo. Sri Lanka’s Foreign Ministry said it coordinated the move for urgent care, and spokesman Thushara Rodrigo told AFP the Iranian embassy covered the transfer costs.
AFP reported almost a dozen empty Iranian tankers near Galle. Sri Lanka maintains that the tankers lie beyond its territorial waters and can navigate freely.
Patrol boats and reconnaissance aircraft are keeping watch on vessels beyond Sri Lanka’s 12-nautical-mile limit, defense officials said. U.S. sanctions have pushed many Iranian merchant vessels toward the Strait of Malacca and Singapore, authorities said; only a few remain near Sri Lanka.
A second Iranian naval vessel has sought shelter at Trincomalee in Sri Lanka’s northeast, AFP reported. In March, a U.S. submarine attack in international waters off Sri Lanka sank the frigate IRIS Dena and killed 104 sailors; the Sri Lankan navy rescued 32 crew members.
