ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lanka extended an official invitation to Iranian ships, including the ill-fated IRIS Dena which was sunk by a US submarine torpedo without any warning, Iran’s Ambassador to Colombo said.
The attack on IRIS Dena killed 104 sailors including 20 missing in action while Sri Lanka rescued 32 who are now in the island nation after treatment.
IRIS Dena was in India for MILAN 2026, an international naval exercise before sailing toward Sri Lanka.
“During the exercise in India, your navy commander invited from Iranian Navy commander to send these vessels to Sri Lankan’s waters in order to have friendly visits,” Alireza Delkhosh the Ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Iran to Sri Lanka told reporters at a media briefing in Colombo on Monday (23).
He said the invitation was for all three ships: IRIS Dena, IRIS Boshehr, and IRIS Lavan.
He said IRIS Dena, which left Tehran before the start of Middle Eastern conflict, was not ready for war.
“It participated in a peaceful exercise in India. During the presence in India, this vessel with two other vessels was invited—I repeat, invited—by the Sri Lankan side to come here and just stay. They came here upon their invitation.”
“And when they were here, they didn’t receive any alerts in advance from United States. They attacked it without any war, without any alerts.”
“Most of these killed people were not armed personnel. They were from a music group. They were playing saxophone and violin and they were killed without any alerts.”
Sri Lankan officials have said the Navy Commander’s invitation was informal and was not followed up in writing.
The government has said the Iran Embassy in Colombo requested “Goodwill Visits” for all three ships from March 9-13. The IRIS Dena was attacked on March 4.
However, opposition legislators in the parliament quoted Iran Embassy officials stating that President Anura Kumara Dissanayake’s government kept IRIS Dena for 11 hours despote it requested urgent entry on March 3.
Ambassador Delkhosh said he did not have confirmed information on the 11-hour wait.
“Dena was in an urgent position and they asked permission to enter the waters. But I don’t have any confirmed documentary information on whether they asked for urgent permission or not,” he said.
“If so, absolutely any countries, I mean, there is no difference between neutral or not neutral countries, all countries should have some responsibilities, even from humanitarian point of views to give help to them.”