File photograph: An Iranian vessel off Sri Lanka in March
Sri Lanka's foreign minister has denied that the United States pressed Colombo to cut off supplies to Iranian tankers stranded off the island, even though the US embassy trained Sri Lankan officials last month on the risk of penalties for servicing sanctioned ships and the Sri Lanka Ports Authority has reportedly said it was not "prudent" to serve Iranian-flagged vessels.
“The United States has not made any such request, intervention or exerted any pressure on our government. Therefore, there is no such situation. If such reports are being circulated, they are completely incorrect,” the foreign minister, Vijitha Herath, said at an event on 4 October, according to Ada Derana .
Herath said around 47 vessels were anchored in international waters near Sri Lanka, 19 of them Iranian-flagged, and that none were within Sri Lanka's territorial waters. He said the government had not provided cargo transportation or supplies to vessels subject to US sanctions.
“We make all our decisions while protecting our sovereignty and identity. However, if there is a need arising from humanitarian considerations, we will make the necessary intervention,” he said.
The denial comes after reports that around 20 empty Iranian tankers have been left drifting some 15 miles off the south-west coast, short of food, fuel and fresh water. The Wall Street Journal reported that the US embassy in Colombo told the government in August that it was tracking 19 Iranian tankers and urged officials to tell port service providers to deny them support. It also reported that the Ports Authority wrote in September that it was not “prudent to provide services to Iranian-flagged” vessels because of the risk of US sanctions.
The cabinet spokesman and minister Nalinda Jayatissa said over the weekend that the foreign ministry was “taking necessary action”, and that the government would adopt “a diplomatic approach” and take all necessary measures, the Daily Mirror reported . He gave an assurance that no decision harmful to Sri Lanka would be taken over the vessels, and said the country continues to maintain a neutral and non-aligned position on the conflict in the Middle East.
A foreign ministry spokesman told the paper that the US secondary sanctions announced on 24 August apply globally rather than to Sri Lanka alone, and that such vessels are also loitering in other oceans.
The US embassy told the Daily Mirror it would not comment on private diplomatic communications, but said the United States was working with allies and partners to close off avenues for what it called “illicit Iranian revenue”. It referred to the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control for the list of designated vessels.
The embassy also pointed to its own 25 September statement on a three-day training it ran in Colombo from 9 to 11 September for more than 40 officials from the Sri Lankan navy, coast guard, Ports Authority, Central Bank, Merchant Shipping Secretariat, Ministry of Defence and Atomic Energy Regulatory Council.
That statement warned that “providing services such as fuel, food, or provisions to a sanctioned vessel can expose companies and individuals to U.S. sanctions risk, including potential civil or criminal penalties”.
“Sri Lanka sits at a strategic crossroads for global commerce, bringing both tremendous opportunity and the need for vigilance,” the US ambassador, Eric Meyer, said in the statement.
Herath said the Iranian vessel IRIS Bushehr remains anchored at Trincomalee port, and that Sri Lanka is providing its 13 crew members with food, accommodation and security. The vessel was sent to Trincomalee in March after an engine failure, days after a US torpedo sank the Iranian warship IRIS Dena off Sri Lanka's southern coast .
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