Udisha Jayasinghe
COLOMBO (Reuters) – Sri Lanka refused to allow two U.S. fighter jets to land at civilian airports earlier this month, President Anura Kumar Dissanayake told parliament on Friday.
Dissanayake told lawmakers that the United States had requested permission for the two planes to land at Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport in the south of the country from March 4 to 8.
“They hope to bring in two fighter jets equipped with eight anti-ship missiles from a base in Djibouti,” he said in a statement.
“We rejected the request to maintain Sri Lanka’s neutrality,” he added to applause from members of parliament.
The United States made the request on February 26. On the same day, Iran asked three of its ships to pay a goodwill visit to Sri Lanka from March 9 to 13 after participating in Indian naval exercises. That request was also denied.
The United States and Israel launched an attack on Iran on February 28, triggering a regional war that severely restricted energy supplies and disrupted markets.
“We are considering this request. If we say ‘yes’ to Iran, we must also say ‘yes’ to the United States,” he added.
On March 4, the Sri Lankan Navy rescued 32 Iranian sailors from an attack on the IRIS Dena that was torpedoed by a U.S. submarine, an attack that killed at least 84 people.
The second ship, IRIS Boosthehr, and its crew were rescued by the Sri Lankan Navy after experiencing technical problems outside the island nation’s territorial waters.
US Special Envoy for South and Central Asia Sergio Gore is currently visiting Sri Lanka and met Dissanayake on Thursday.
Sri Lanka, which is recovering from a severe financial crisis that peaked in 2022 due to dollar shortages, faces supply constraints related to the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran.
The United States is Sri Lanka’s largest export market, while Iran is one of its major tea buyers.
(Reporting by Uditha Jayasinghe; Editing by Sharon Singleton)