The U.S. Embassy in Colombo has informed Sri Lanka’s Foreign Ministry about the presence of several Iranian vessels in international waters and inquired whether authorities were aware of them and monitoring their movements, Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath said.

Speaking at the Cabinet decisions media briefing today (08), Herath said the Defense and Ports Ministries were subsequently notified, while the Sri Lanka Navy is monitoring the vessels.“They are not in our waters,” he said.

According to Herath, a total of 47 vessels have been identified in international waters more than 24 nautical miles from Sri Lanka’s territorial waters amid the ongoing military tensions between the United States and Iran.He said the vessels included several Iranian-flagged ships as well as other commercial and cargo vessels, none of which had entered Sri Lanka’s territorial waters.The Minister said none of the vessels had requested facilities or assistance from the Sri Lankan Government, and no facilities had been provided to them.

He noted that it was common for commercial and cargo vessels to remain in international waters off countries such as Sri Lanka, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia while awaiting further operations.Herath reiterated that, apart from monitoring the vessels, the Sri Lankan Government had not intervened or taken any action concerning them.