Sri Lanka rules out possibility of claiming compensation for any marine pollution

By Charithya Kumarasiri

Colombo, May 9 (Daily Mirror) - Sri Lanka has ruled out the possibility of seeking compensation over the sinking of the Iranian Navy frigate IRIS Dena off the country’s southern coast, with authorities stating that international law does not permit compensation claims against warships and that no confirmed environmental damage linked to the vessel has so far been reported, according to an official.

Samantha Gunasekara, Chairman of Marine Environment Protection Authority (MEPA) told Daily Mirror that the legal framework governing military vessels places significant restrictions on compensation claims.

“Under international law compensation cannot be claimed from any warship,” Gunasekara said.

The vessel was torpedoed on March 4, approximately 40-50 nautical miles south of Galle, within Sri Lanka’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), by a U.S. submarine while returning from the International Fleet Review 2026 held in Visakhapatnam, India. However, the incident took place outside the country’s 12 nautical mile territorial waters.

According to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), Sri Lanka exercises full sovereignty over territorial waters extending up to 12 nautical miles from its baseline, while beyond this lies the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), where the country holds rights only over marine resources. As the sinking of IRIS Dena occurred outside Sri Lanka’s territorial waters but within its EEZ, the incident is governed by the Law of Naval Warfare (LoNW).

Professor Rob McLaughlin, in an article titled “The sinking of the IRIS Dena and the Law of Naval Warfare” published by the Australian and New Zealand Society of International Law, notes that under LoNW enemy warships are generally considered lawful military targets during international armed conflict, even outside formally declared war conditions. According to the analysis, such operations may lawfully occur on the high seas or within the territorial waters of states directly involved in a conflict, but not within the territorial waters of neutral states. As IRIS Dena was reportedly outside Sri Lanka’s territorial waters at the time of the attack, the vessel falls within the scope of a lawful military target under naval warfare principles.

Meanwhile, Gunasekara also dismissed concerns that the sinking has caused confirmed environmental damage along Sri Lanka’s southern coastline.

“There is no environmental pollution reported in relation to this ship,” he said.

In the days following the sinking, lubricant oil patches and debris were observed along coastal areas including Hikkaduwa, Dodanduwa and Habaraduwa, raising public concern over a possible connection to the wreck. However, Gunasekara clarified that those incidents are not connected to Iris Dena and that authorities have not established any verified link between the pollution and the sunken Iranian warship.