Gutsy Sri Lanka wins praise as it refuses to abandon Iranian sailors in distress

Sri Lanka is drawing praise from analysts and social media commentators after stepping in to rescue and assist more than 200 Iranian sailors caught in the widening conflict in the Indian Ocean, with many calling the island nation’s response both courageous and principled.

The move by the Sri Lankan government to take over the vessel came after the US sank the Iranian warship IRIS Dena off Sri Lanka’s coast on Wednesday. The strike marked one of the rare instances since World War II in which a submarine sank a surface warship, and highlighted the expanding scope of the US-Israeli war against Iran. The Sri Lankan navy rescued 32 sailors and recovered 87 bodies after the attack.

Despite rising geopolitical tensions, Colombo doubled down on its humanitarian approach days later when a second Iranian vessel, IRIS Bushehr, sought assistance while lingering near Sri Lanka’s waters.

Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake said 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.

No civilian should die in wars. Our approach is that every life is as precious as our own. We jealously guard our non-aligned policy while ensuring that humanitarian values and the saving of lives remain our top priority.

What the world urgently needs today is peace. There is a… pic.twitter.com/ELVOP9dER0

— Anura Kumara Dissanayake (@anuradisanayake) March 6, 2026

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.

Before the incident, the Iranian warship had recently taken part in the Milan 2026 multinational naval exercise and fleet review held in Visakhapatnam, India.

On social media, commentators widely shared reports of Sri Lanka’s rescue operation, highlighting the navy’s swift response to the distress call from the Iranian frigate IRIS Dena.

Carl Zha, a geopolitical commentator and podcast host praised Sri Lanka as the "real guardian of the Indian Ocean" for providing safe harbour and rescuing sailors while criticising silence elsewhere.

Sri Lanka providing safe harbor to Iranian ship and rescuing Iranian sailors from IRIs frigate Dena sunken by US sub while India gov remains silent and Indian accts disavow responsibility to Dena which was a guest of India

Turns out Sri Lanka is the real guardian of Indian Ocean https://t.co/9tdaeKONWG

— Carl Zha (@CarlZha) March 5, 2026

Another social media user called it "what humanity looks like," thanking Sri Lanka for deploying ships and aircraft immediately with no politics, just action to save lives.

This is wht humanity looks like.
Sri Lanka deploying naval ships and aircraft to rescue sailors from the Iranian frigate IRIS Dena in distress off the coast of Galle.

30 rescued so far. Operations ongoing.

No questions abt politics.

No waiting for legal obligation.

Just… https://t.co/yPMk6QqO62

— Visham (@vichalhey) March 4, 2026

Journalist Ranga Sirilal shared on X the first official footage and photos of the Sri Lanka Navy's rescue of 32 survivors from IRIS Dena, about 19 nautical miles off Galle. 

The first official footage/pix of the Sri Lanka Navy rescuing 32 Iranian sailors who survived a US torpedo attack on IRIS Dena on March 4, 2026, about 19 nautical miles off Galle -- much closer to the shore than previously thought. pic.twitter.com/aVt0ScwqMp

— Ranga Sirilal (@rangaba) March 6, 2026

American journalist Ryan Grim also praised Sri Lanka.

Do people not understand that the outrage is primarily at the U.S. for just watching the sailors drown? Thankfully Sri Lanka has some humanity and saved 32 of them. We would have let them all die. https://t.co/GcdsIQocH9

— Ryan Grim (@ryangrim) March 6, 2026

“We responded to the distress call under our international obligations, as this is within our search and rescue area in the Indian Ocean,” Sri Lanka Navy spokesperson Buddhika Sampath told AFP.

Sampath said the sailors of the IRIS Bushehr were being brought first to the port of Colombo, and the ship will later be moved to an eastern port on the island.

“The disembarkation is in progress,” he said, adding the sailors would be taken to the naval base at Welisara, about 20 kilometres north of Colombo, after medical exams and immigration procedures.

In an increasingly polarised international environment, observers say such actions reinforce the longstanding maritime principle that sailors in distress must be helped, regardless of the politics surrounding the conflict.

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Source: TRT