40 sailors from blockaded Iranian tankers taken to Sri Lanka for treatment

At least 40 Iranian sailors from tankers anchored outside Sri Lanka's territorial waters were brought ashore through the port of Galle, 115 kilometres south of Colombo, for urgent treatment over the past two days. Sri Lankan officials announced this on Sunday, 25 October 2026.

Thushara Rodrigo, spokesman for Sri Lanka's foreign ministry, said the ministry coordinated the transfer of the sailors from ship to shore and fulfilled the country's humanitarian obligations. According to him, the costs were paid by the Islamic Republic's embassy. Officials gave no details about the sailors' illnesses or injuries.

Empty tankers with no way back

About ten empty tankers of the Islamic Republic, which are under US sanctions, are anchored near the port of Galle and cannot return to Iranian ports because of the US naval blockade. Sri Lanka says the ships are in international waters and enjoy freedom of navigation; its military monitors them outside the 12-nautical-mile limit with reconnaissance aircraft and patrol boats. Several other commercial ships of the Islamic Republic have headed towards the Strait of Malacca and Singapore.

The fate of these sailors is a picture of the human cost of the Islamic Republic's policies: Iranian crew members have been stranded at sea for weeks, while the government has tied the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz to the lifting of the blockade, an offer that the Islamic Republic's ambassador to Pakistan made public. The naval blockade and the closure of land borders have further narrowed the Islamic Republic's trade routes.

Background: Iranian sailors in Sri Lanka

Earlier this year, in February–March, a US submarine sank the frigate Dena in international waters near Galle. The Sri Lankan navy pulled 32 sailors from the water, and another vessel of the Islamic Republic's navy took refuge in the port of Trincomalee, in the island's northeast.

Iranian sailors stranded at sea are paying the price of the policy the Islamic Republic has adopted over the Strait of Hormuz.