Iran and Sri Lanka have had official diplomatic relations since 1961.Sri Lanka – Iran Bilateral Relations
Embassy of Sri Lanka in Iran

History

Diplomatic relations between

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

(then known as Pahlavi Iran) and Sri Lanka (then known as Ceylon) began in 1961 via the Ceylonese embassy in

Islamabad Islamabad (; ur, , ) is the capital city of Pakistan. It is the country's ninth-most populous city, with a population of over 1.2 million people, and is federally administered by the Pakistani government as part of the Islamabad Capital ...

, which was the closest Ceylon had to a presence on

ian soil until the opening of the Tehran embassy office in 1990. Tehran set up its

Colombo Colombo ( ; si, කොළඹ, translit=Koḷam̆ba, ; ta, கொழும்பு, translit=Koḻumpu, ) is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. According to the Brookings Institution, Colombo m ...

office in 1975. After Mahmoud Ahmadinejad became

President of Iran The president of Iran ( fa, رئیس‌جمهور ایران, Rayis Jomhur-e Irān) is the head of government of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The president is the second highest-ranking official of Iran after the Supreme Leader. The president ...

, Sri Lanka was the first country he visited on his inaugural Asian tour.The Group of 15 (G- 15)
Government of Sri Lanka - May 14, 2010 Mahinda Rajapaksa also made ties with Iran a priority after he ascended to office.Sri Lanka, Iran mutual friends - Minister
Daily News.lk - February 20, 2010 In 2024 April, Despite the tension in middle east, Iran President

Ebrahim Raisi Sayyid Ebrahim Raisolsadati ( fa, سید ابراهیم رئیس‌الساداتی; born 14 December 1960), commonly known as Ebrahim Raisi ( fa, ابراهیم رئیسی ), is an Iranian principlist politician, Muslim jurist, and the eight ...

visited to Sri Lanka for the inauguration of

Uma Oya Hydropower Complex The Uma Oya Hydropower Complex (also internally called Uma Oya Multipurpose Development Project or UOMDP) is a irrigation and hydroelectric complex currently under construction in the Badulla District of Sri Lanka. Early assessments of project dat ...

. Sri Lanka and Iran signed 5 agreements during this visit.

Development and Trade

has helped fund a number of development projects in Sri Lanka. In 2010 they agreed to post US$450-500 million for the Uma Oya Multipurpose Development Project, a 90-100 megawatt hydroelectric

power plant A power station, also referred to as a power plant and sometimes generating station or generating plant, is an industrial facility for the electricity generation, generation of electric power. Power stations are generally connected to an el ...

around the Central Province. Iran has also invested in Sri Lankan Oil refineries and its investments have helped to double Sri Lankan Oil production capacity. Iran has also invested in

rural electrification Rural electrification is the process of bringing electrical power to rural and remote areas. Rural communities are suffering from colossal market failures as the national grids fall short of their demand for electricity. As of 2017, over 1 billion ...

. These projects have made Iran Sri Lanka's largest aid donor. Iran has been one of the top

Ceylon Tea Ceylon tea is both the brand of tea which is produced in Sri Lanka and a historic term describing tea from that land. Ceylon tea has been described as not only a geographical descriptor but also a pillar of Sri Lankan culture, heritage and ident ...

buyers from the Middle East.

Military

During the Sri Lankan Civil War the Government of Sri Lanka approached

for

loan In finance, a loan is the lending of money by one or more individuals, organizations, or other entities to other individuals, organizations, etc. The recipient (i.e., the borrower) incurs a debt and is usually liable to pay interest on that ...

s at low interest to afford Sri Lanka purchases of electronic surveillance aircraft and unmanned aerial vehicles after a particularly daring attack on the Sri Lankan Air Force by the

Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE; ta, தமிழீழ விடுதலைப் புலிகள், translit=Tamiḻīḻa viṭutalaip pulikaḷ, si, දෙමළ ඊළාම් විමුක්ති කොටි, t ...

. Iran agreed covertly to issue the loan and also invited selected Sri Lankan officers to train in Iran for the war. Analysts have termed Iran's aggressive courting of Sri Lanka's military capacity as a geostragetic implication of Iran's "Look east" strategy. For Iran's assistance in the Sri Lankan Civil War, Sri Lankan minister

Wimal Weerawansa Weerasangilige Wimal Weerawansa (born 7 March 1970) is a Sri Lankan politician, Member of Parliament and current leader of the National Freedom Front (NFF). Weerawansa has served many cabinet positions, including Minister of Industries from 2020 ...

said that: "Iran has never let us down, even when many other countries in the world refused to back us. The county as a whole is very grateful for this brotherly treatment".‘UNO, a paper tiger’ - Iranian Minister
DailyNews.lk - June 27, 2010

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Iran - Sri Lanka Relations Bilateral relations of Sri Lanka Sri Lanka

History

Development and Trade

Military

See also

References