NEW DELHI: Sri Lanka’s cabinet spokesperson announced on Tuesday that another Iranian ship is currently nine nautical miles off its coast, pending further action. This follows an earlier incident where a US submarine sank an Iranian warship near Sri Lanka last month.
The deputy foreign minister of Sri Lanka identified the vessel as IRIS Dena, a frigate known to have participated in a naval exercise organized by India in the Bay of Bengal between February 18 and 25. At that time, it was heading back to Iran from an eastern Indian port.
This latest discovery has reignited tensions in the region. The incident on March 4 resulted in the deaths of numerous sailors when the US submarine inadvertently sank the IRIS Dena off Sri Lanka’s southern coast. Diplomatic relations remain strained, with both countries vowing further scrutiny and potential retaliatory actions over what is perceived as a violation of territorial waters.
Experts suggest that while international maritime law generally allows for freedom of navigation in shared waterways, breaches such as this can lead to serious diplomatic fallout and even naval confrontations. As the situation unfolds, observers are watching closely to see how Sri Lanka will respond to this latest development.