ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lanka has temporarily closed down its embassy in Tehran in the face of attacks by Israel while attacks have been reported near its mission in Tel Aviv, Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath said.
More than 20,000 Sri Lankans are living in Israel as expatriate workers while there are 35 Sri Lankans in Iran.
Iran has retaliated to Israel’s Friday (13) attack with UAVs and ballistic missiles. Military strikes between the both countries have prompted concern about potential damage and disruption to the region’s important oil and gas fields and infrastructure apart from the safety of the citizens.
“We have some issues related to the security of the Sri Lankans. We have relocated the Sri Lankan embassy in Tehran because of heavy attack and we can’t continue to operate from there,” Minister Herath told parliament responding to a question over the state of Sri Lankans in both war-torn Israel and Iran.
He said eight Sri Lankans including the embassy staff and Sri Lankan students have shifted to the North part of Iran due to safety.
“In Israel, the safety of Sri Lankan workers could be at risk. The embassy is operating though there has been attack near the embassy. We have asked the people to go to safe places or bunkers when there is an attack and alert on possible attacks,”
“We have temporarily halted sending people to Israel for employment. Those who have come to Sri Lanka from Israel, which is between 300-350, also won’t be sent because the life is precious than the job.”
He said the government is in discussions with the Israeli authorities to extend the visa of those who have come to Sri Lanka.
“We urge those who are supposed to go to Israel not to go. We also have brought back 10 Sri Lankans who were on transit in their journey to Israel.
He said the government is unable to send flight to bring back Sri Lankans in the event of an aggravated attack due to risks involved with sending flights to the region.
“The situation in Iran is worse. If there is a special situation, we have already discussed with the embassies in other countries to bring back the people. So we have taken all the steps to ensure the safety,” he said.
“We can’t predict the situation in a war.” (Colombo/June 17/2025)
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