Sri Lanka refused ground access to US warplanes

Sri Lanka refused permission to the United States to station two of its warplanes at an airport in the island’s south in early March, President Anura Kumara Dissanayake told parliament on Friday.

“They wanted to bring two warplanes armed with eight anti-ship missiles from a base in Djibouti to the Mattala International Airport from March 4 to 8 and we said ‘no’,” Dissanayake said.

Sri Lanka maintains close ties with the United States, its biggest export market, and Iran which is a key buyer of tea, its main export commodity.