On March 4, a US submarine torpedoed and sank the Iranian frigate IRIS Dena near Sri Lankan waters, killing 108 sailors on board. The attack without warning occurred in international waters as the vessel was returning from multinational naval exercises hosted by India.

This act of mass murder, thousands of kilometres from the Middle East, was part of Washington’s escalating war against Iran. It sent an unmistakable message: the conflict will be prosecuted wherever the US chooses, unconstrained by international law or convention.

The Sri Lankan Navy responded to two distress calls early in the morning—at 4 a.m. and 5 a.m.—from the sinking Iranian vessel and rescued 32 survivors, who were admitted to Karapitiya Hospital in Galle for treatment. The navy later retrieved the bodies of dozens of sailors from the sunken ship.

On March 4, a second Iranian naval ship, IRIS Bushehr, carrying 208 crew members, sent a message to the Sri Lankan Foreign Ministry requesting permission to enter Colombo Port. After initially rejecting the request, the nervous Sri Lankan government, after a flurry of diplomatic discussions, finally allowed the ship into Colombo Port on March 5. Its crew were disembarked and the vessel taken to Trincomalee Port on the other side of the country.

That night, in a special media briefing, President Anura Kumara Dissanayake claimed that his government had acted in a manner that “safeguards the dignity of the country.” It did not take a “hasty decision,” he said, because “this concerns a naval vessel belonging to one party in a war,” and “we are a neutral state.”

Dissanayake acknowledged that discussions had been held with “relevant embassies” but did not identify them. He declared that Sri Lanka had agreed to take custody of the crew and vessel, “subject to agreements and understandings reached between the parties,” but likewise did not identify the parties, or the terms of the agreements.

In other words, Dissanayake presented the episode as a routine humanitarian operation carried out by a neutral state and was praised by the media and opposition parties for showing restraint.

That narrative has now been shattered by a Reuters report, posted on March 7, shedding light on what led the Sri Lankan government to allow the second ship into the country.

According to an internal US State Department cable dated March 6, Jayne Howell, the chargé d’affaires at the US embassy in Colombo, insisted that the government must not repatriate the crew of the IRIS Bushehr or the 32 rescued sailors from the IRIS Dena to Iran.

The cable also shows that Israel’s ambassador to India and Sri Lanka, based in New Delhi, was involved in the discussions. According to the cable, Howell told the Israeli ambassador that there was no plan to repatriate the sailors to Iran—indicating that President Dissanayake had agreed.

The agreements included that “Sri Lankan authorities should minimize Iranian attempts to use the detainees for propaganda.” In other words, the Iranian sailors would be muzzled which can only mean they are under detention or constant observation. The IRIS Bushehr, the cable said, “will remain in Sri Lankan custody for the duration of the conflict.”

The Israeli envoy also asked Howell whether there had been any engagement with the crew to encourage “defection”—in other words, to turn the sailors into propaganda tools for the US-Israeli war of aggression on Iran. The Reuters correspondent reported that he had tried to contact the Israeli embassy but received no response.

Dissanayake’s posturing about Sri Lanka’s “neutrality” and “humanitarian mission” is false to the core. At an International Women’s Day event in Colombo, he boasted that Sri Lanka “carries the banner of humanity forward,” while other countries wage war.

In reality, the Dissanayake government functioned as a compliant intermediary for the diplomatic and strategic objectives of the US and Israel as dictated by their diplomatic envoys. The events surrounding the sinking of the Dena expose the complicity of Colombo—and New Delhi—in the imperialist war being waged against Iran.

Three Iranian ships—IRIS Lavan, IRIS Dena, and IRIS Bushehr—had recently participated in multinational naval exercises hosted by India in the Bay of Bengal. After the drills, on February 27, these vessels sought permission to make a courtesy port call in Colombo. That request was refused.

Neither New Delhi nor Colombo has condemned the US attack on the Dena or the killing of its crew, or the illegal war itself. Their silence is not accidental. Both governments are politically aligned with Washington and are increasingly integrated into its military and strategic framework in the Indo-Pacific as it prepares for war with China.

Under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, India has become a key “strategic partner” of the United States. The Dissanayake government in Sri Lanka is following the same trajectory, deepening its military cooperation with Washington and also strengthening defence ties with New Delhi.

Colombo’s role in the Iran war also sheds light on the political character of the government and the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) that leads it. The JVP, a petty bourgeois organisation based on Maoism, Castroism and the armed struggle that routinely engaged in anti-imperialist and socialistic demagogy, has evolved into a flunkey of US imperialism and international finance capital.

At home, the Dissanayake administration, which claims to defend “humanity” abroad, is ruthlessly imposing International Monetary Fund austerity policies driving millions deeper into poverty. To enforce these measures, Dissanayake is expanding the powers of the police and military and using the draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act, Emergency Regulations and the Essential Services law to suppress the opposition of workers and the rural poor.

The sinking of IRIS Dena as part of the devastating war on Iran is another warning that US imperialism is plunging the world towards catastrophe as it engages in a reckless attempt to reassert global domination. The ruling classes in India and Sri Lanka, have aligned themselves with this neo-colonial agenda. The only social force capable of stopping this descent into barbarism is the international working class.

The Socialist Equality Party and the International Youth and Students for Social Equality are holding a public meeting on March 17 at the Colombo Public Library Auditorium as part of the campaign being waged by the International Committee of the Fourth International to build a unified anti-war movement of the international working class based on socialist policies.

We urge workers, young people and progressive intellectuals to attend and participate in this meeting which will discuss the political perspective required to oppose imperialist war.