Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake told parliament on Friday, March 20, 2026, that the country had rejected a US request to deploy two fighter jets at a civilian airport in southern Sri Lanka. The United States had sought permission in late February to station the aircraft, equipped with anti-ship missiles, transferred from a base in Djibouti. Dissanayake said the decision was made to maintain Sri Lanka’s neutral stance.

The president also revealed that on the same day, Iran and India had requested permission for three Iranian warships to dock at Colombo Port after completing joint naval exercises. He explained that granting permission to one side would have required allowing the other, so both requests were denied. His statement received applause from the 225-member parliament.

Earlier in March, a US attack near Sri Lanka’s southern coast sank an Iranian warship, killing at least 84 sailors. Sri Lanka’s navy rescued 32 survivors, and another Iranian vessel was later allowed to enter Sri Lankan waters for safety reasons, with 219 sailors currently sheltered in Colombo.