A United States submarine attack on an Iranian warship in the Indian Ocean has killed at least 87 sailors, prompting Sri Lanka to shelter a second Iranian naval vessel In a televised address, Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake confirmed the country's navy had assumed control of the IRIS Bushehr after it requested port entry due to engine trouble He insisted Colombo's actions were neutral and intended only to "safeguard lives" The 208 sailors from the Bushehr have been offloaded
The intervention comes as rescuers continue to search for an unknown number of sailors missing from the IRIS Dena, which was torpedoed and sunk off Sri Lanka’s southern coast on Wednesday An Iranian official, Araghchi, called the US attack in international waters an "atrocity"
Both Iranian vessels had recently been guests of India, participating in a multilateral naval exercise The incident has created political fallout in New Delhi, where the opposition Congress party has criticized Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government for its silence on the sinking The party has questioned India’s role as a “security provider” in the Indian Ocean following the attack on a ship it had recently hosted
ISN MEDIA
