An Iranian ship offloaded more than 200 crew members to Sri Lanka on Friday after suffering an engine failure at sea, just days after a US submarine sank an Iranian warship in a torpedo attack in the Indian Ocean.
The IRIS Bushehr, described in previous Iranian media reports as a naval logistics ship, will be the first to be brought to Colombo port, Sri Lanka Navy spokesperson Cmdr. Buddhika Sampath. Sailors are taken to a naval base in Welisara after medical examinations and immigration procedures.
“We must understand that this is not an ordinary situation,” Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake said on Thursday. “It is a request from a ship of a party to enter our port. We must take it into account in accordance with international treaties and conventions.”
Dissanayake added that authorities decided to take control of the IRIS Bushehr after discussions with Iranian officials and the ship’s captain after one of its engines failed. He said some crew members would remain on board to help the Sri Lankan Navy later navigate the ship to Trincomalee on the island’s northeast coast, about 265 miles from Colombo.
Iranian naval personnel stood aboard the IRIS Bushehr in Port Sudan, Sudan, in December 2012. The ship suffered engine problems on March 6, 2026 and is being brought to Sri Lanka, reports said. (STR/AFP via Getty Images)
The measures come after the US sank the Iranian warship IRIS Dena off the coast of Sri Lanka on Wednesday.
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said this was “the first time an enemy ship has been sunk by a torpedo since World War II.”
The Indian Navy said on Thursday it had launched search and rescue operations after receiving a distress signal from the Dena, deploying two aircraft and a sailing training ship. By the time the response was launched, the Sri Lankan Navy had already begun its own rescue efforts, the report said.
According to The Associated Press, the Sri Lankan Navy rescued 32 sailors and recovered 87 bodies after the attack.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said Thursday that the US will “bitterly regret” the attack and sinking of that ship.
“The US committed an atrocity at sea, 3,000 kilometers from the Iranian coast,” Araqchi wrote on
US WHO WINS ‘DECISIVE’ AGAINST IRAN WILL ACHIEVE ‘COMPLETE CONTROL’ OF AIRSPACE WITHIN DAYS, SAYS HEGSETH
A U.S. submarine sank an Iranian warship in international waters in the Indian Ocean, War Secretary Pete Hegseth confirmed Wednesday. (@DeptofWar/X)
“Mark my words: the US will bitterly regret the precedent it has set,” he added.
Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine told Pentagon reporters on Wednesday that the Iranian ship was “effectively neutralized” during a Navy “quick strike” using a single Mark 48 torpedo.
Two Iranian sailors, center, who were rescued by the Sri Lanka Navy from the warship IRIS Dena, are seen in Galle, Sri Lanka, on Thursday, March 5, 2026. (Eranga Jayawardena/AP)
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He added that the US Navy had “achieved immediate effect by sending the warship to the bottom of the sea”.
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