The United States is pressing Sri Lanka's government not to repatriate survivors from the Iranian warship IRIS Dena, which it sank this week, as well as the crew of a second Iranian vessel, IRIS Booshehr, now in Sri Lankan custody, according to an internal State Department cable seen by Reuters on Friday.
The cable, dated March 6 and not previously reported, said Jayne Howell, the charge d’affaires at the US embassy in Colombo, had emphasised to Sri Lanka’s government that neither the Booshehr crew nor the 32 Dena survivors should be repatriated to Iran.
It said, “Sri Lankan authorities should minimise Iranian attempts to use the detainees for propaganda.”
The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Representatives for Anura Kumara Dissanayake's office and Sri Lanka’s foreign ministry were not immediately available for comment.
The cable said Howell also told the Israeli ambassador to India and Sri Lanka that there was no plan to repatriate the crew to Iran. The envoy asked Howell whether there had been any engagement with the crew to encourage “defection”, the cable said.
On Wednesday, Sri Lanka’s deputy minister for health and mass media, Hansaka Wijemuni, told Reuters that Tehran had asked Colombo for help repatriating the bodies of those killed aboard the Dena, but a timeframe for doing so had not yet been determined.
The Dena had taken part in naval exercises organised by India in the Bay of Bengal last month and was returning to Iran when it was struck by a US torpedo.
A US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters the Dena was armed when it was hit and that the United States did not issue a warning before carrying out the strike.
The State Department cable said the second vessel, the Booshehr, would remain in Sri Lankan custody for the duration of the conflict.
Sri Lankan authorities said on Friday they were escorting the Booshehr to a harbour on the eastern coast and moving most of its crew to a navy camp near Colombo.