JAKARTA - The United States (US) is reported to have urged Sri Lankan authorities not to repatriate survivors of the Iranian warship IRIS Dena that sank earlier this week, as well as the second Iranian crew currently in Sri Lankan custody.
The Sri Lankan Navy has evacuated 204 people from the Iranian ship Bushehr who had previously asked for permission to enter the port in the island nation, a navy spokesman said on Friday. Later that day, media reported that the number of crew members evacuated had risen to 208.
Bushehr is the second Iranian vessel to ask for help from the Sri Lankan Navy.
On March 4, the Iranian naval vessel IRIS Dena, which was reportedly en route to Iran from a port in eastern India with about 180 crew on board, sank about 40 kilometers south of Sri Lanka after sending an emergency signal at dawn.
War Minister ASPete Hegseth then said a US submarine had sunk the Iranian warship in international waters in the Indian Ocean. He noted that the incident was the first torpedo sinking since World War II.
"The Sri Lankan authorities must minimize Iran's attempts to use the detainees as a propaganda tool," the memo cable said, adding that the Bushehr ship would remain in Sri Lankan custody until the conflict ended, as reported by ANTARA from Sputnik, Saturday, March 7.
A US official told Reuters Dena was armed when he was attacked and the United States did not give any warning before carrying out the attack.
On Wednesday, Reuters reported that at least 78 people were injured and another 101 were missing after an Iranian ship was attacked by a submarine off the coast of Sri Lanka.
After the incident, Sri Lanka's Deputy Foreign Minister Arun Hemachandra said that around 80 bodies have so far been found at the site of the IRIS Dena's sinking.
On February 28, the US and Israel launched an attack on a number of targets in Iran, including in Tehran, which caused damage and casualties among civilians.
Iran then retaliated by launching attacks on Israeli territory and US military bases in various parts of the Middle East, as a form of self-defense.
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