News
Amid Trump’s plan for attack on Iran, US Pacific Fleet chief visits Lanka
View(s):The Commander of the US Pacific Fleet, Admiral Steve Koehler, wound up a two-and-a-half-day visit to Colombo yesterday amidst warnings by US President Donald Trump of staging a possible military strike on Iran from the US-UK military base at Diego Garcia, some 1,000 miles south of Sri Lanka in the Indian Ocean.
Admiral Koehler, who heads the world’s largest naval command fleet in the world, was on his second visit to Sri Lanka, with the US Embassy in Colombo stating that this highlights the strategic importance the United States places on Sri Lanka’s role at the crossroads of global maritime routes and underscores the shared long-term commitment to a free, open, and prosperous Indo-Pacific.
He met the Deputy Defence Minister Major General (Retd) Aruna Jayasekera. A Defence Ministry statement referred to the meeting focusing on “a range of pertinent topics, including shared security challenges”.
The timing of Admiral Koehler’s visit comes as there is a rapid US military build-up in West Asia. The New York Times reported that President Trump has the option to take military action as soon as this weekend, as diplomatic talks on Iran’s nuclear programme remain inconclusive. Iran has asked for two weeks to come up with a nuclear counterproposal.
In New Delhi, the US ambassador to India met with President A.K. Dissanayake, who was in the city to attend the AI summit. Ambassador Sergio Gor, in a post after meeting President Dissanayake, referred to “working together to advance stability in the region”.
The high-ranking US naval commander’s visit to Sri Lanka came as President Trump also warned British Prime Minister Keir Starmer against the potential loss of a US-UK military base on Diego Garcia, under its agreement to hand over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius. Diego Garcia of the Chagos Islands is currently home to a strategic UK-US military base.
The Diego Garcia base has recently been used for operations in West Asia against Yemen’s Houthis and in humanitarian aid to Gaza. “DO NOT GIVE AWAY DIEGO GARCIA!” Trump wrote in a post on his Truth Social on Friday, saying the base could be called upon in any future military operation to “eradicate a potential attack” from Iran.
Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and UK Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper held talks in Washington yesterday to defuse the growing tensions with the UK over the Chagos Islands deal. No details were available about the outcome of the talks.
The best way to say that you found the home of your dreams is by finding it on Hitad.lk. We have listings for apartments for sale or rent in Sri Lanka, no matter what locale you're looking for! Whether you live in Colombo, Galle, Kandy, Matara, Jaffna and more - we've got them all!