COLOMBO — In the final days before it was destroyed by a United States submarine in the Indian Ocean, the Iranian frigate IRIS Dena was sailing toward Sri Lanka in response to what sources say was a diplomatic invitation extended weeks earlier by Sri Lankan authorities during a multinational naval gathering in India. The IRIS Dena, a domestically built Moudge-class frigate commissioned into the Iranian Navy in 2021, was part of the country’s Southern Fleet. The vessel was torpedoed south of Sr

GENEVA — A group of Western and allied nations renewed pressure on Sri Lanka on Monday to repeal its controversial anti-terrorism legislation and accelerate long-promised human rights reforms, warning that years of commitments have produced limited tangible results. Speaking at the 61st session of the United Nations Human Rights Council, Eleanor Sanders, the United Kingdom’s human rights ambassador, delivered a statement on behalf of the Sri Lanka Core Group — Canada, Malawi, Montenegro, North