Sri Lanka Rejected U.S. Request to Base Arms‑Loaded Planes Before Iran Strikes

Sri Lanka’s government says the United States quietly asked to land and park two military aircraft loaded with arms and ammunition on Sri Lankan territory just two days before it began bombing Iran on Feb. 28, 2026, and that Colombo turned the request down to preserve its neutrality. President Anura Kumara Dissanayake confirmed the episode in a March 20 speech to Parliament, while defense and foreign‑ministry officials told The New York Times the approach was made through the U.S. Embassy in Colombo and came without any explanation of why the planes needed to be there. Around the same time, Sri Lanka also rejected a separate Iranian request to allow three Iranian warships to dock, underscoring the tightrope smaller states are walking to avoid being drawn into the U.S.–Iran conflict. Days after the war began, U.S. forces torpedoed an Iranian warship off Sri Lanka’s coast, and the government is now hosting survivors from that vessel and another Iranian ship—making the island an involuntary waypoint in a war it is trying to stay out of. For a U.S. audience, the episode sheds light on the administration’s pre‑war basing and logistics strategy and the political resistance it can face even from countries that have traditionally cooperated with Washington.