According to a State Department internal cable seen on Friday, the United States has urged Sri Lanka's government to not repatriate survivors of the Iranian warship they sank earlier this week.

The U.S. sub sank IRIS Dena, a warship of the Iranian Navy in the Indian Ocean on Wednesday. It was 19 nautical miles from Galle, the southern port of Sri Lanka. This action killed dozens of sailors.

Sri Lanka began unloading crew members on Thursday from the IRIS Booshehr naval auxiliary ship that had been stranded outside Sri Lanka's maritime boundary but within Sri Lankan exclusive economic zone.

Anura Kumara dissanayake, the president of Anura Kumara island, said that his nation has a "humanitarian duty" to take in crew.

The United States' first torpedoing action since World War Two, which Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth called "quiet Death", was a sign of how the Iran conflict has expanded geographically.

Jayne Howell (the charge d'affaires of the U.S. Embassy in Colombo) said that the cable was dated 6 March and had not been previously reported. She said she had stressed to Sri Lankan government officials that neither the Booshehr team nor the 32 Dena survivors would be returned to Iran.

The statement said that "Sri Lankan officials should minimize Iranian efforts to use detainees as propaganda."

State Department didn't immediately respond to an inquiry for comment. Dissanayake’s office representatives and Sri Lanka’s Foreign Ministry were not available to comment immediately.

Howell told the Israeli ambassador in India and Sri Lanka that there were no plans to return the crew to Iran. The cable stated that the envoy asked Howell if there was "any engagement" with the crew in order to encourage "defection".

The Israeli Embassy in New Delhi didn't immediately respond to our request for comment.

Hansaka Wijemuni of Sri Lanka, the deputy minister for mass media and health, said that Tehran has asked Colombo to help return the bodies of those who died aboard the Dena. A timeframe for this action is not yet known.

The Dena was returning from a naval exercise in the Bay of Bengal, organised by India last month. It was then struck by a U.S. Torpedo.

Unnamed U.S. officials said that the Dena had been armed at the time of the attack and that the United States hadn't given a warning prior to the strike.

The cable from the State Department said that the second vessel, the Booshehr will remain under Sri Lankan custody during the duration of the conflict.

Sri Lankan authorities announced on Friday they were moving the majority of the crew to a naval camp near Colombo and escorting Booshehr into a harbor along the east coast.

(source: Reuters)