Sri Lanka monitoring 47 vessels in international waters after US alert on Iranian ships

Sri Lanka's Foreign Minister said authorities are tracking dozens of vessels, including some Iranian-flagged ships, positioned in international waters near the country following a US Embassy notification.

Sri Lanka's Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath said on Tuesday that authorities have identified 47 vessels operating in international waters near the country, including several Iranian-flagged ships, after the US Embassy in Colombo alerted the government to their presence. Herath denied earlier media reports suggesting Iranian vessels had entered Sri Lankan territorial waters, stating that all monitored vessels remained beyond the country's 12-nautical-mile territorial sea boundary.

According to Herath, the US Embassy inquired whether Sri Lanka was aware of the Iranian vessels and whether they were being monitored. Following this notification, the Defence and Ports Ministries were informed and the Sri Lanka Navy deployed monitoring operations. Herath emphasized that the government had neither received requests from the vessels to enter territorial waters nor granted any such permissions. The vessels include commercial and cargo ships from multiple nations, including Thailand and Malaysia, which Herath noted is typical maritime activity in the region.

Journalists at the media briefing noted that some vessels had been positioned at distances between 11.4 and 11.6 nautical miles from the coast—within or near Sri Lanka's territorial limit—before moving to approximately 24 nautical miles offshore. However, Herath maintained that according to Sri Lankan authorities' observations, no vessels had crossed into territorial waters. The Sri Lanka Navy confirmed the vessels were in the vicinity of the country's Exclusive Economic Zone but remained outside sovereign territorial waters and therefore outside Sri Lanka's direct jurisdiction.

Herath stated the monitoring operation was precautionary and that the government had not taken any intervention measures. The vessel positioning comes amid heightened military tensions between the United States and Iran.