Sri Lanka refuses Iranian request to supply stranded tankers and warns firms of US sanctions

Sri Lanka's government has turned down an Iranian request to provide food and water to Iranian vessels stranded off its coast, The Sunday Times (Sri Lanka) reports. Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath confirmed the request but said the ships, which the paper describes as empty US-sanctioned oil tankers, lie outside Sri Lanka's territorial waters, so the state has no obligation to supply them. He denied that US pressure lay behind the decision and warned private companies that servicing the ships could expose them to US secondary sanctions. According to Herath, 47 foreign vessels are anchored off Sri Lankan waters, 15 of them identified as Iranian. The US Embassy has run workshops for officials on maritime sanctions evasion.

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