Sri Lanka Tries To Safeguard Second Iranian Ship After US Attack Kills 80+ Sailors

Sri Lanka is attempting to “safeguard lives” on another Iranian ship sailing near its coast, a government spokesperson said on Thursday, after a United States submarine sank an Iranian warship in nearby international waters, killing more than 80 people and leaving dozens missing.

“We are doing ⁠our utmost to safeguard lives,” cabinet spokesperson Nalinda Jayatissa said, adding that the second vessel was currently located in the economic zone beyond Sri Lanka’s territorial waters.

Second Iranian Warship Raises Concerns

On Wednesday, a US submarine sank an Iranian warship with a torpedo in international waters off Sri Lanka. The strike came as the US-Israeli war on Iran continued to expand across the Middle East and beyond.

Jayatissa said the second warship, believed to be carrying more than 100 crew members, is heading toward the same area where the US submarine destroyed the Iranian frigate. Authorities fear the vessel could face a similar attack.

“The second Iranian warship to pass near Sri Lanka’s territorial waters since yesterday is believed to be part of a group of three Iranian navy vessels returning from an international maritime event in India,” Al Jazeera’s Minelle Fernandez reported from Colombo.

Fernandez added that the vessel had contacted Sri Lankan authorities, saying it was experiencing engine trouble and requesting permission to dock.

“The second ship contacted local authorities in Sri Lanka, indicating it is running into engine trouble and asking to call into port. That is not happening, but there is some communication, from what we’re hearing,” she said.

Sri Lanka’s government, meanwhile, “has to walk on eggshells”, she noted.

“Even though it has not taken either side in the ongoing war and is far from the centre of operations, the country has almost been drawn into this conflict.”

Bodies Of Iranian Sailors To Be Handed Over

Authorities in the southern port city of Galle were preparing on Thursday to hand over the remains of 87 Iranian sailors killed in the torpedo attack claimed by the US military.

Officials at the main hospital in Galle said 32 rescued Iranians were being treated under tight security provided by police and elite commandos.

The Emergency Treatment Unit has been closed to visitors and other patients as medical authorities established a separate ward for the injured sailors.

“Most of them have minor injuries, but there were a few with fractures and burns,” a nurse at the hospital told AFP, requesting anonymity.

Sri Lankan navy vessels are continuing search operations for missing sailors, navy spokesman Buddhika Sampath said.

Iran Warns US Will ‘Bitterly Regret’ Attack

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Thursday that the United States would “come to bitterly regret [the] precedent it has set”.

Writing on X, Araghchi described the attack as an “atrocity at sea”.

“The US has perpetrated an atrocity at sea, 2,000 miles [3,200km] away from Iran’s shores,” he wrote.

“Frigate Dena, a guest of India’s Navy carrying almost 130 sailors, was struck in international waters without warning. Mark my words: The US will come to bitterly regret [the] precedent it has set.”

Meanwhile, General Kioumars Heydari of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said on state television that the force had “decided to fight Americans wherever they are”, adding that Iran did not care how long the war lasts.

Later on Thursday, the IRGC claimed it had struck a US tanker in the northern Gulf, saying the vessel was on fire. It also stated that in wartime, passage through the Strait of Hormuz would be under Iranian control.

The United States has not responded to the claim.