Sri Lanka tracks 11 US-sanctioned Iranian tankers off coast

<p> COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s maritime authorities were monitoring a fleet of 11 US-sanctioned Iranian oil tankers just off the island’s southern coast, the foreign minister said Wednesday.<br /> The tankers were spotted close to the Galle harbor where an Iranian frigate, IRIS Dena, was sunk by a US submarine in March, killing 104 sailors. Sri Lanka’s navy rescued 32 Iranian sailors from that frigate.<br /> Iranian vessels have been in limbo, unable to return to their home port because of a US blockade.<br /> Sri Lanka’s Foreign minister Vijitha Herath said the tankers were in international waters where they had freedom of navigation.<br /> “These ships are away from our territorial waters … we have no hold on them, nor have we facilitated them,” Herath told AFP.<br /> The military deployed reconnaissance aircraft and patrol boats to monitor the vessels outside Sri Lanka’s 12-nautical-mile territorial waters, a military official told AFP on condition of anonymity.<br /> “There is no indication of any ship-to-ship transfer of oil or illegal discharge of pollutants, so there is no basis for Sri Lankan authorities to take action against them,” the official said.<br /> Many Iranian merchant vessels moved east toward the Strait of Malacca and Singapore due to US sanctions, while several remained near Sri Lankan waters, authorities said.<br /> Sri Lankan officials said Washington had not formally notified Colombo about sanctioned Iranian-flagged vessels.</p>