Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Sabry will lead a high-level delegation representing Sri Lanka to attend the state funeral of the late Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian.

Sri Lanka’s Foreign Ministry announced that the delegation will depart tonight to attend the funeral scheduled for Wednesday, May 22.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has declared five days of national mourning honouring Raisi, Amirabdollahian, and six others who perished in a helicopter crash in northwest Iran on Sunday.

Thousands of mourners gathered for the initial funeral procession on Tuesday in Tabriz, the closest major city to the crash site.

Sri Lanka too observed a national day of mourning on Tuesday with the Public Administration Ministry instructing all state-institutions to fly the national flag at half mast.

Iran has been a long term trade and development partner of Sri Lanka, with Sri Lanka recently inking five bilateral agreements during late President Raisi’s visit to the island. Raisi visited Sri Lanka on April 24 for a one-day official trip to launch the Uma Oya dam amid tight security. (Newswire)

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Opposition Leader MP Sajith Premadasa has refuted media reports claiming that he had refused to meet the President of Iran Ebrahim Raisi during the latter’s recent visit to Sri Lanka.

Taking to ‘X’, MP Premadasa said he completely refutes the malicious attempt by Ranil’s media which insinuates that he refused to meet with the Iranian president. 

“As usual the defeatist and morally bankrupt politicians are resorting to falsehoods to hoodwink the people of our country,” he said. 

Meanwhile, the opposition, Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) also refuted the reports claiming that its leader MP Sajith Premadasa had avoided meeting the President of Iran. 

SJB MP Nalin Bandara denied the reports and clarified that the Iranian Embassy had not provided an appointment to the Opposition Leader for a discussion with the Iranian President. 

On reports of not attending the dinner hosted by President Ranil Wickremesinghe for the Iranian President, MP Bandara said MP Sajith Premadasa does not attend events hosted by President Wickremesinghe.

SJB MP Nalin Bandara made the remarks while addressing the Parliament today (Apr 26). (Newswire)

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President Ranil Wickremesinghe together with visiting Iranian President Dr. Ebrahim Raisi jointly inaugurated the Uma Oya Multipurpose Development Project (UOMDP) today.

This project is one of the largest irrigation projects in Sri Lanka, following the Mahaweli Development Project.

It has been constructed with the assistance of Farab Energy and Water Projects (Farab Company) of Iran. 

Farab Company has undertaken detailed feasibility studies, prepared detailed engineering designs, procured all materials, equipment and machinery, and carried out the physical construction, installation, testing and commissioning of the project.

The primary objective of the Uma Oya project is to alleviate water scarcity in the southeastern dry region of the country by redirecting an annual average of 145 million cubic meters of excess water from the Uma Oya basin to the Kirindi Oya basin. (Newswire)

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