By P.K.Balachandran
Colombo, March 19 – The sudden visit of the US Special Representative for South and Central Asia, Sergio Gor, in the aftermath of the sinking of the Iranian corvette IRIS Dena by an American submarine off Sri Lanka on March 4, has touched off speculation about the intent of his mission.

Gor met President Anura Kumara Dissanayake on Thursday in Colombo. According to the Sri Lankan government’s statement, Dissanayake briefed the US delegation on Sri Lanka’s position regarding the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, as well as the challenges faced by Sri Lanka in light of developments there.
Given the normal stance of Sri Lankan governments, Dissanayake would not have taken sides on the US-Iran war but restricted his focus on the economic difficulties Sri Lanka is facing because of the virtual closure of the Strait of Hormuz and the bombardment of the Gulf States, where close to 1.5 million Sri Lankans are employed. He would have expressed a wish that the crisis would end soon.
The primacy of the economic dimension was evident in the composition of the Sri Lankan team at the talks with Gor. Apart from the Secretary to the President, Dr Nandika Sanath Kumanayake; there were the Secretary to the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development, Dr Harshana Suriyapperuma; the Senior Economic Adviser to the President, Duminda Hulangamuwa; and the Senior Additional Secretary to the President, Roshan Gamage.
Notably, there were no representatives of the Ministry Defence, the armed forces, the Environment Ministry, or the Ministry of Law.

US Statement

As for as Sergio Gor, his intention in coming to Sri Lanka was expressed in the US State Department press release which said that he will be visiting Sri Lanka and the Maldives from March 19 to 24 “for high-level engagements focused on advancing cooperation in the Indian Ocean region.”
While, in Sri Lanka, the statement said, Special Envoy Gor “will meet with senior leaders to reaffirm the importance of the US-Sri Lanka relationship and strengthen cooperation in key sectors. His meetings will further support US efforts to safeguard vital sea lanes and secure ports, reinforce mutually beneficial trade and commercial ties, and advance a free, open, and prosperous Indo-Pacific for the benefit of both our peoples.”
The US Department of State statement added that the United States “values its enduring partnerships with Sri Lanka and its shared commitment to regional security and stability.”
But the opinion in Colombo is that the stated US intention could be both a reassertion of continued US presence in the Indian Ocean region off Sri Lanka and the Maldives. This is in case there is feeling that following its unexpectedly poor performance in its war against Iran, America’s will opt out of the region.
Sheltered Iranian Vessel and Crew
Sources close to the navy said that Gor may be wanting Sri Lanka not to hand over the Iranian naval vessel IRIS Bushehr and the 283 Iranian naval crew to Iran, in case Iran wanted them back.

It is understood here that given the present situation in Iran with a war on, it will be morally wrong to send the sailors back. Sri Lanka will neither send them back nor hand them over to the US. It will be politically suicidal for the Dissanayake government to yield to any US pressure on this score.

Significance of Torpedoing IRIS Dena

The torpedoing of IRIS Dena was significant in many ways. By that act, the conflict in West Asia was extended to the Indo-Pacific. Also, it was the first time since World War II, that a US submarine ( in this case USS Charlotte) had sunk an Iranian naval vessel in this part of the Indian Ocean, using a torpedo. The incident also spread the war zone to the area covered by the US 7th Fleet.
The submarine had launched an MK-48 heavyweight torpedo, said Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Dan Caine.Ignoring the sentiments of the peoples and governments of Sri Lanka and India, Caine said, “Over the next 24 to 48 hours, the US Central Command] will continue to strike infrastructure and naval capability and we’ll continue to assess our progress against the military objectives.”

The CENTCOM commander Adm. Brad Cooper said the U.S. is focused on “sinking the Iranian Navy – the entire Navy,” in a video posted.

Neither Colombo nor New Delhi (which claims to be the net security provider for Sri Lanka and the Maldives) protested against the US banditry in their own backyard.

A Sri Lankan Navy official told the media that the navy and the Coast Guard rescued Iranian sailors from the ship, who were floating in the water and took them to a hospital.

While the Sri Lankans did not find the Iranian ship, they did pull out dead bodies from the water. Search and Rescue forces saved 32 sailors and recovered over 80 bodies among the crew of approximately 130 (although there are reports that as many as 180 were aboard.

The sinking triggered a debate over the attack’s legality. The Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi labelled the attack “an atrocity at sea” and warned that the United States “will come to bitterly regret” the attack.

Legal Dimension

According to the Just Security website, during an armed conflict, the world’s oceans are generally split into three areas in the law of naval warfare (a) neutral waters, (b) belligerent waters, and (c) international waters. Understanding the distinction between these maritime zones is critical because they define the geographic areas in which belligerents may lawfully conduct military operations at sea and those in which such operations are restricted.

Neutral waters encompass both the territorial sea and internal waters (e.g., ports, bays, rivers, etc.) of neutral States (meaning States that are not a party to the conflict). The 1907 Hague Convention XIII prohibits States from engaging in hostilities against them. States universally recognise that prohibition as customary.

Obviously, warships of the parties to the conflict may exercise “belligerent rights,” including conducting attacks, in their own waters and those of their enemy (meaning the territorial seas and internal waters of States that are a party to the conflict).

They may also engage in hostilities in international waters, which encompasses all waters that lie outside of any neutral State’s territorial sea, including contiguous zones, exclusive economic zones (EEZ) and the high seas.
In principle, then, an enemy warship may be engaged anywhere in the world except neutral waters, meaning that belligerent naval operations may lawfully occur across vast expanses of the ocean, including areas that are far removed from the immediate land theatre of any given conflict.

Since the IRIS Dena attack took place in international waters and the law of naval warfare imposes no zones of engagement, there is no issue as to its location.

Enemy warships and naval auxiliaries, whether “manned or unmanned” are military objectives by nature that may be targeted anywhere and at any time (so long as they are not present in neutral waters). Also, warships and naval auxiliaries may be targeted regardless of the composition of the crew or passengers on board.

There is no indication that IRIS Dena expressed a desire to surrender, if only because it may have been unaware it was about to be attacked. Iranian officials claim the frigate was attacked without warning. Yet, there are reports that Charlotte twice warned Dena to surrender and abandon ship, but the captain refused to give that order.

However, there is no obligation in the law of naval warfare for a warship to demand surrender before attacking. Warships may be attacked without warning.

We note that Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister protested that IRIS Dena “was [in the area] by invitation of our Indian friends, attending an international exercise. It was ceremonial. It was unloaded. It was unarmed.” But that protest has no basis in the law of naval warfare because, as noted, warships are lawful military objectives.
Under the Law of the Sea, a warship is “a ship belonging to the armed forces of a State bearing the external marks distinguishing such ships of its nationality, under the command of an officer duly commissioned by the government of the State and whose name appears in the appropriate service list or its equivalent, and manned by a crew which is under regular armed forces discipline” (UNCLOS).
Just Security says that it its estimation, there is simply no basis to claim that IRIS Dena did not qualify as a military objective at the time of the attack or that the manner of attack was unlawful.

Rescue Aspect

The only possible question, therefore, is whether the USS Charlotte was obligated to effect a rescue of IRIS Dena’s shipwrecked crew.

The law says that after each engagement, Parties to the conflict shall, without delay, take all possible measures to search for and collect the shipwrecked, wounded and sick, to protect them against pillage and ill-treatment, to ensure their adequate care, and to search for the dead and prevent their being despoiled.

Whether the Charlotte (and U.S. forces more broadly) complied with these obligations depends on facts that are not fully available in publicly available sources. What we can say is that the submarine was under a legal obligation to take feasible measures to rescue those who were shipwrecked.

As for calling for assistance, most open source reports do not indicate that Charlotte did so, although the US Indo-Pacific Command stated that “U.S. forces planned for and Sri Lanka provided life-saving support to survivors in accordance with the Law of Armed Conflict.”

But even if the Charlotte did not, it was probably unnecessary given Dena’s immediate distress call and the expeditious Sri Lankan activation of SAR assets, assisted by the Indian Navy. Within the hour, SAR forces were on scene. In other words, a call for assistance from the submarine would likely have had no practical effect.

The real mission of Ambassador Gor is not clear. Subsequent events will reveal the purpose of the visit and its impact on Sri Lanka’s policies. While the US may not have broken any law by downing the IRIS Dena where it did, countries in the region do expect to be taken into confidence before anything of this sort is done in its vicinity. region. Sharing information in time will contribute to understanding and cooperation.

END