“You can’t be neutral on a moving train,” is the title of US historian and activist Howard Zinn’s 1994 autobiography.
The world (or the ‘train’), wrote Zinn, “is already moving in certain deadly directions, often toward war, injustice, inequality, or suffering.” Pretending to be neutral often means accepting the status quo, he concluded.
Pretending to be neutral in a ruthless war is difficult enough. However, it is nearly impossible if you’re a small, vulnerable nation trying to maintain good relations with both adversaries, and none illustrates this point better than Sri Lanka’s dilemmas.
The tiny Indian Ocean island-nation sits over 4,200 km away from Iran’s southern border. However, in the three-week-old conflict, Colombo has been tested multiple times.
In fact, the Iran-US War has also been termed as the biggest foreign policy test of the 18-month-old government in Colombo.
For now, President Anura Kumara Dissanayake’s government has been able to somewhat placate both Iran and the US; however, the question is whether, if the war spreads and the pressure to pick sides intensifies, Sri Lanka could continue to maintain neutrality.
Sri Lanka’s Dilemmas in the Iran-US War
The US-Iran War started on February 28.
However, in the tiny Indian Ocean island-nation of Sri Lanka, the war dilemmas arrived 48 hours earlier.
On February 26, two papers landed on the desk of the Sri Lankan President Dissanayake. One from the US and one from Iran.
Washington asked permission for two U.S. military aircraft, armed with anti-ship missiles, to land at Mattala airport. Simultaneously, Tehran asked permission for three Iranian naval ships to dock at Sri Lankan ports.
The three Iranian naval ships were in India in February to take part in a naval exercise.
“We received the request on February 26 for the three Iranian vessels to call at port on a goodwill visit between March 9 and 13. On the same evening, the US requested permission for two of its warplanes near Djibouti to land at Mattala airport,” President Dissanayake informed the Sri Lankan Parliament last week.
Committed to maintaining neutrality and ensuring that Colombo does not become a party to the conflict, Sri Lanka denied permission to both.
“So there were two pieces of paper on our desk; one asked for permission for the Iranian vessels to call at port between March 9-13, the other from the US asking to allow 2 naval warplanes to land at Mattala. What should we have done? As a neutral nation, we said no to both. That’s impartiality,” he added.
He said the US wanted to bring in two warplanes armed with eight anti-ship missiles from their base in Djibouti to Mattala International Airport, but “Sri Lanka said no”.
That should have been the end of Sri Lanka’s role in the conflict; however, as Howard Zinn warned, it is difficult to be ‘neutral on a moving train.’
On March 4, a US submarine torpedoed the Iranian warship, IRIS Dena, which had earlier requested Sri Lanka’s permission to dock. The Iranian warship was torpedoed by the US submarine in international waters, but within Sri Lanka’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) and search-and-rescue region.
As many as 87 sailors died in the incident, which also brought the deadly conflict right to Sri Lanka’s doorstep.
One week earlier, Colombo had categorically denied permission to IRIS Dena to dock at its port; now, with the lives of 136 sailors hanging by a thread on its doorstep, Colombo had no choice but to respond to IRIS Dena’s distress call.
At least 87 sailors were killed. Sri Lanka recovered 87 bodies and 32 survivors.
Colombo also faced criticism, both domestic and international, for denying permission to IRIS Dena to dock at its port, leading to its drowning.
President Dissanayake responded to these criticisms in his statement in the Parliament.
“Certain parties are saying that we have signed agreements with the US, and that’s why we delayed entertaining the Iranian vessel. It was said in Parliament that an 11-hour delay on our part sacrificed the Iranian vessel. That’s outrageous, inhumane,” he said.
Under pressure, Sri Lanka also allowed IRIS Bushehr, an Iranian Navy supply ship, to dock at its port on March 5, less than 24 hours after the drowning of IRIS Dena and the death of 87 sailors.
Sri Lanka also rescued the 221 sailors on board the IRIS Bushehr. Together with the 32 sailors rescued from IRIS Dena, these 252 Iranian sailors have been in Sri Lanka since then.
Iranian Sailors in Sri Lanka Remain in Limbo
While rescuing the drowning sailors, Sri Lanka would not have thought that its humanitarian gesture would become its geopolitical dilemma in the coming days.
Sri Lanka has repatriated the bodies of 87 sailors it recovered from the IRIS Dena, after the Iranian government chartered a special plane.
Colombo would like to do the same with 252 Iranian sailors in its custody, especially given that Tehran has repeatedly requested Colombo to repatriate these sailors.
Iran considers the release of its sailors to be a “bilateral” issue that can be resolved directly, since the two countries are on friendly terms, Alireza Delkhosh, Iran’s ambassador to Sri Lanka, said in an interview last week.
However, there is one problem. The US would not allow Sri Lanka to do so, and Colombo is wary of antagonizing the US.
A US State Department cable dated March 6, cited by Reuters, indicated that Jayne Howell, the charge d’affaires at the US embassy in Colombo, urged Sri Lankan authorities not to send back the 32 survivors or the crew of another Iranian vessel, the IRIS Booshehr.
There is also some confusion about the legal status of these sailors.
Delkhosh said they should be free to go because Sri Lanka is not a participant in the hostilities, meaning the sailors are not prisoners of war. He also said many of the sailors were cadets still in training.
“They are not belligerents, they are not fighters, they are just students,” he said. “And here is not the battleground.”
Several other people on board were not from the army. “They were… a music band,” he said.
However, the US differs. Some of the sailors on the ship could be intelligence operatives, and their return to Iran could harm US interests in a war situation, Washington contends.
Furthermore, once in Iran, they could join the war against the US.
According to the New York Times, there is tremendous pressure on Colombo not to let these sailors return to Iran, at least till the war is not over.
In an interview, Sri Lanka’s foreign affairs minister, Vijitha Herath, expressed his dilemma.
“They are not prisoners,” he said. “But that doesn’t mean, give them all freedom.”
Herath also disagreed with the characterization of the Iranians as students. “They were in the warship,” he said.
Walking a tightrope, for now, Colombo has given all the Iranian sailors a one-month visa for Sri Lanka.
Herath stated that, at present, the captain of the Bushehr and 14 of its sailors remain on board the vessel, which is still in Sri Lanka. The rest of the ship’s crew are at a Sri Lankan Navy camp in Welisara, about 12 miles north of Colombo, he said, adding that the 32 survivors of the Dena are at a separate camp operated by the Sri Lankan Air Force.
Colombo is also bearing the cost of their medical expenses and their stay in the country, while also facing pressure from Washington and Tehran to quickly resolve the issue.
“This is a very unique situation. Keeping them is an expense, an obligation, and a security issue for us,” George I. H. Cooke, a visiting lecturer at the University of Colombo in Sri Lanka, told NYT.
Sri Lanka is in a difficult position as both regions are critical for the island-nation.
The US is Sri Lanka’s largest single export destination, accounting for 23 percent of merchandise exports in 2025, with exports to the U.S. reaching nearly US$3 billion.
Sri Lanka’s garment sector is especially exposed to Western markets, and Herath said that more than 40 percent of garment exports go to the United States.
Any blowback on trade with the US could have devastating consequences for a country that has just emerged from near economic collapse.
At the same time, Colombo relies on West Asia to meet its energy needs. Additionally, more than one million Sri Lankans work in West Asia and send significant remittances home.
Sri Lanka would not like to be a party to this conflict. The country has historically followed a non-aligned policy of ‘friends to all, enemies to none’.
Colombo has worked hard to maintain its neutrality in this war, refusing permission to both US fighter jets and Iranian warships. However, the question is for how long a tiny, vulnerable nation can continue to do so?
- Sumit Ahlawat has over a decade of experience in news media. He has worked with Press Trust of India, Times Now, Zee News, Economic Times, and Microsoft News. He holds a Master’s Degree in International Media and Modern
History from the University of Sheffield, UK. - VIEWS PERSONAL OF THE AUTHOR.
- He can be reached at ahlawat.sumit85 (at) gmail.com
