The Sri Lankan navy rescued 32 sailors and recovered 87 bodies after the attack.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the Dena had been carrying “almost 130” crew. The normal crew size for a warship of that class is 140.

Araghchi called the sinking an “atrocity at sea” and said the US would “bitterly regret” the attack.

Sri Lanka says it acted under international law

Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake said late Thursday that authorities decided to take control of the Iranian vessel IRIS Bushehr after discussions with Iranian officials and the ship’s captain, after one of its engines failed.

“We have to understand that this is not an ordinary situation. It’s a request by a ship belonging to one party to enter into our port. We have to consider that according to the international treaties and conventions,” he told journalists Thursday night.

Separately on Friday, he wrote on X: “No civilian should die in wars. Our approach is that every single life is as precious as our own.”

The IRIS Bushehr had been described in previous Iranian media reports as a navy logistics ship that also had a helicopter pad on it.

Dissanayake said some crew members would remain on board to help the Sri Lankan navy navigate the vessel to Trincomalee on the island’s northeast coast, about 265 kilometers from Colombo. The remaining sailors will be housed at a naval base, he said, adding that Sri Lanka was guided by neutrality while seeking to uphold humanitarian principles.

“We have followed a very clear stance. We will not be biased to any state not we will be submissive to any state,” he said.

The incident tests Sri Lanka’s neutrality

The episode underscores how the conflict involving Iran is widening beyond the Middle East and spilling into the Indian Ocean, putting strategically located Sri Lanka in a delicate position as it tries to balance humanitarian obligations, international maritime law and its longstanding policy of non-alignment.

H. M. G. S. Palihakkara, Sri Lanka’s retired former foreign secretary who also served as its permanent representative to the UN, said the country had acted responsibly and impartially in responding to the crisis.

“There has been a distress call from the ship. So naturally Sri Lanka, as a party to the Law of Sea and the Hague Convention, had no option but to do what it did by mounting a humanitarian operation to provide assistance to save lives and provide medical care to the affected,” he said.

Palihakkara said that Sri Lanka had an obligation to uphold international law. He added that parties to the conflict would understand that Sri Lanka was not taking sides and was acting in line with its foreign policy of staying outside geopolitical alignments.

“You could not have ignored the distress call. Even the attacking powers cannot leave shipwreck sailors dying. That is the law,” Palihakkara said.

Infographic: Indonesia aviation disasters — a timeline

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