Sri Lanka will treat Iranian sailors rescued from a torpedoed frigate according to international law, a minister said Saturday, following reports Washington was pressuring Colombo to not repatriate them.
Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath told a conference in New Delhi that Sri Lanka was caring for 32 sailors from the Iranian frigate IRIS Dena under Colombo's international treaty obligations.
The frigate was sunk by a US submarine on Wednesday just off Sri Lanka's southern coast.
Sri Lanka sent its navy to rescue survivors and recover 84 bodies.
Asked if Colombo was under pressure from the US to not repatriate the Iranians, Herath did not answer directly.
"We have taken all the steps according to international laws," Herath said.
Sri Lanka also provided safe haven to a second Iranian warship, the IRIS Bushehr, and evacuated its 219 crew a day after the Dena was torpedoed.
The ship was taken to Trincomalee on Sri Lanka's northeast coast after reporting engine problems.
India, meanwhile, said Saturday it had allowed a third Iranian warship, the IRIS Lavan, to dock in one of its ports on "humane" grounds after it too reported operational problems.
A Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake said this week that Colombo would follow the Hague Convention, which requires a neutral state to hold combatants of a warring state until hostilities end.
