Sri Lanka rejected US, Iran military requests
Both the United States and Iran made military requests to Sri Lanka in late February, just days before Israel and the US attacked Iran, Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake (pictured) said on Friday, AzerNEWS reports.
The US had sought to station two armed warplanes at Mattala Airport from March 4 to 8. "They wanted to bring two warplanes armed with eight anti-ship missiles … and we said 'no'," Dissanayake told parliament. Likewise, Iran requested a port call for three warships. "We were still considering the Iranian request to bring the three ships to Colombo from March 9 to 13. Had we said 'yes' to Iran, we would have had to say 'yes' to the US too … But we didn't. We are steadfastly maintaining our position of neutrality," he said.
The US torpedoed one of the Iranian ships, IRIS Dena, just off Sri Lanka's southern coast on March 3, killing at least 104 people.
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