Sri Lanka, Sept. 10 -- Amid reports about the presence of Iranian vessels in international waters outside Sri Lanka and the U.S. Embassy raising concerns about it, the Iranian Embassy yesterday said that it had learnt of such concerns only from the Sri Lankan media.

Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath, in response to a question at the weekly Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, said that there were 47 vessels, including a small number of Iranian vessels, lingering outside Sri Lanka's territorial waters. He said the US embassy in Colombo had raised concerns with the Foreign Ministry about the presence of several Iranian vessels in international waters and had inquired whether Sri Lanka authorities were aware of them and monitoring their movements.

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