Colombo: The United States is pressuring Sri Lanka not to repatriate the surviving Iranian crew members from two Iranian warships involved in recent conflicts. The appeal includes not only the crew members of the USS Dena, attacked by a U.S. submarine, but also the crew of the USS Booshehr, currently under Sri Lanka's custody.
According to Thai News Agency, an internal State Department telegram dated March 4, 2025, details that Jane Howell, Charg© d'affaires at the U.S. Embassy in Colombo, Sri Lanka, stressed to the Sri Lankan government that the 32 surviving crew members of the USS Dena should not be sent back to Iran. The telegram further highlights that this stance extends to the 208 crew members of the USS Booshehr, an Iranian support vessel stranded in Sri Lanka's exclusive economic zone. Howell also communicated with Israeli ambassadors, indicating no plans for repatriation, which prompted the Israeli ambassador to inquire about possible encouragement for defection.
On the same day the Iranian warship was sunk, Sri Lankan Deputy Health Minister Hansaka Wijemooni disclosed Iran's request for assistance in repatriating the bodies of the 87 crew members recovered, although no specific timeline was established. Sri Lankan President Anurak Kumara Dissanayake asserted Sri Lanka's humanitarian duty to care for the crew. Reports indicate that 20 of the 32 survivors from the Dena were transferred from a hospital in Galle to an air force camp in Kokkala. The Dena had a crew of about 130 and had just completed a military operation in India when it became the first ship torpedoed and sunk by the U.S. since World War II. The implications signal potential conflict expansion beyond the Middle East. Meanwhile, Sri Lanka has permitted the Bushehr to dock at a port on the eastern coast, with its crew accommodated at a naval camp near Colombo.