🔻Sri Lanka announces the rescue of 40 Iranian sailors from 19 merchant ships

The spokesperson of Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Sunday that this country carried out a rescue operation for 40 Iranian sailors from 19 merchant ships in international waters near its shores. Sri Lanka says that these sailors were taken to the port of Galle and, after receiving medical services, were returned to Iran on Sunday.

According to Reuters, the spokesperson of Sri Lanka’s foreign ministry, without providing details, said that the sailors needed medical services and that the Sri Lankan foreign ministry received “a request via diplomatic channels from the Iranian embassy for the rescue of the sailors.”

Local media say that these sailors were “crew members of oil tankers that have been sanctioned by the United States.”

A source from the Sri Lankan government also told Reuters that the Sri Lankan navy and coast guard typically participate in humanitarian operations.

Last month, too, after the Iranian destroyer Dena was targeted by a U.S. submarine torpedo and sank, Sri Lanka rescued dozens of Iranian sailors for humanitarian reasons.