A second Iranian naval vessel was making its way towards Sri Lankan territorial waters on Thursday, just one day after an American submarine destroyed an Iranian frigate off the island nation's southern coastline, claiming the lives of at least 87 sailors. Media minister Nalinda Jayatissa informed parliament that the warship was positioned just beyond Sri Lanka's maritime boundaries, though he offered no additional information.
Official sources indicated the approaching vessel was carrying more than 100 crew members, with growing concern that it could face the same fate as its sister ship, which was sunk by a US submarine torpedo strike near Sri Lanka's southern coast on Wednesday. The incident unfolded as the broader conflict ignited by a joint US-Israel offensive against Iran continued to escalate across the Middle East and further afield.
In the southern port city of Galle, authorities were preparing on Thursday to hand over the remains of the 87 Iranian sailors killed in the attack, which the US military claimed responsibility for. Medical officials at Galle's main hospital confirmed that 32 rescued Iranian personnel were still receiving treatment under heavy security involving police and elite commando units. The Emergency Treatment Unit was sealed off from visitors and other patients, with a dedicated ward established for the Iranian survivors. "Most of them have minor injuries, but there were a few with fractures and burns," a nurse at the facility said, declining to give her name.
Iran's foreign minister Abbas Araqchi responded defiantly, writing on X on Thursday: "The US will bitterly regret the precedent it has set." In a retaliatory move, Iran's Revolutionary Guards announced they had struck a US tanker in the Persian Gulf, with Iranian state broadcasters reporting the vessel in the northern section of the waterway was ablaze. Senior sources indicated the Revolutionary Guards had consolidated control over wartime strategy despite the loss of key commanders, pursuing an aggressive drone-and-missile campaign across the region. Tehran is a significant drone producer with the industrial capacity to manufacture approximately 10 000 units monthly, according to the Centre for Information Resilience, a non-profit research organisation funded by Britain's Foreign Office. Its missile reserves remain uncertain, with figures ranging from 2 500 according to Israel's military to roughly 6 000 by other analysts' estimates.
The conflict's impact on global energy markets has been severe, particularly around the Strait of Hormuz — the narrow passage between Iran and Oman through which a fifth of the world's crude oil and liquefied natural gas is transported. Shipping through this critical energy corridor has nearly ground to a halt following Iranian strikes on six vessels. Brent crude surged 12% while a European natural gas benchmark climbed around 50% during the week. "Iran is not going to fold easily or quickly, they have the means to make it unsafe for commercial traffic to flow through Hormuz," said Bob McNally, president of Rapidan Energy Group. He added that while the US was focused on targeting Iran's weapons stores, bases and facilities threatening the strait, Tehran needed only to demonstrate it could strike a handful of tankers to deter commercial shipping entirely.
Sri Lanka has maintained a neutral stance throughout the escalating hostilities and has repeatedly called for dialogue as the path to resolving the Middle East conflict.
