Sri Lanka denied a request from the United States to station two warplanes at a civilian airport in early March, President Anura Kumara Dissanayake said Friday. The request came as Washington sought to relocate missile-armed aircraft from a base in Djibouti to Sri Lanka’s Mattala International Airport.
Sri Lanka Maintains Neutrality
The U.S. request, made on Feb. 26, two days before the U.S.-Israeli assault on Iran began, was turned down to maintain Colombo’s neutrality and prevent its territory from being used for military purposes that could benefit either side in the conflict, Dissanayake told parliament.
Sri Lanka was indirectly affected by the conflict when a U.S. submarine torpedoed the Iranian frigate IRIS Dena just off its coast in March.
“They wanted to bring two warplanes armed with eight anti-ship missiles to Mattala International Airport from March 4 to 8, and we said ‘no’,” Dissanayake said.
Dissanayake did not specify if the U.S. intended to use Sri Lanka as a base for offensive actions against Iran.
On the same day as the U.S. request, Iran also requested port calls for three of its warships returning from a naval exercise in India. Dissanayake said that if Sri Lanka had approved the Iranian request, it would have been compelled to approve the U.S. request as well.
“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 U.S. too,” he said. “But we didn’t. We are steadfastly maintaining our position of neutrality.”
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