Sri Lanka, March 9 -- The US Indo-Pacific Command has recognized that Sri Lanka provided life-saving support to survivors of the Iranian warship IRIS Dena in accordance with the Law of Armed Conflict or the International Humanitarian Law.

However, it has declined to accept the claim that the ship was unarmed. The Indo-Pacific Command asserted that the Law of Armed Conflict authorises the use of force to target and destroy valid military targets.

The Iranian frigate IRIS Dena was struck by a torpedo fired from a US submarine in international waters around 40 nautical miles off Sri Lanka's southern coast near Galle on March 4. The incident took place well within Sri Lanka's Exclusive Economic Zone.

Eighty-seven bodies were recovered, whi...