Forty sailors from blockaded Iranian tankers taken ashore in Sri Lanka

At least 40 Iranian sailors from US-sanctioned oil tankers were landed at Galle, 115 kilometres south of Colombo, and taken for emergency treatment, AFP reported on 25 October. Thushara Rodrigo, a spokesman for Sri Lanka's foreign ministry, said the ministry had coordinated the transfer and the Iranian embassy had covered the costs. According to AFP, all of the roughly 12 Iranian tankers anchored near Galle are empty.

AFP says Iran's other merchant vessels, like the tankers off Galle, cannot return home to load because of the US blockade, and many have drifted towards the Strait of Malacca and Singapore. Sri Lanka maintains that the ships sit in international waters beyond its 12-nautical-mile limit, and it monitors them with reconnaissance aircraft and patrol boats. Gulf News also reported on 25 October that at least 40 sailors from sanctioned tankers had sought treatment at Galle.

The standoff is not new, though the figures in this paragraph are two months old. The Sunday Morning reported on 23 August that 16 Iranian-flagged very large crude carriers were being tracked off Galle on 21 August, and that one of them, MT Amber, had been at anchor since 16 July. The same report quoted a Sri Lankan deputy minister as saying the government could not tell which of the 16 vessels were sanctioned, because the US list had never been formally communicated through the foreign ministry. Local suppliers are therefore exposed to secondary sanctions risk.