Sri Lanka has taken control of an Iranian naval vessel off its coast, a day after the US sank an Iranian warship in the same waters, in an attack that killed at least 87 people.

The vessel, the Irins Bushehr, had requested to dock at one of Sri Lanka’s ports as one of its engines had malfunctioned. Some 208 members of the vessel have been evacuated.

Sri Lanka allowed it to dock at a north-eastern port after hours of discussion, with its president saying they would never hesitate to protect humanity.

The South Asian country has stressed its neutrality, saying it would take no sides as it finds itself caught in the middle of the US-Israeli military campaign against Iran.

“Our position has been to safeguard our neutrality while demonstrating our humanitarian values,” President Anura Kumara Dissanayake said in a statement.

“(Sri Lanka) intervened in a way that demonstrated our commitment to international conventions, protecting the reputation and dignity of our country, and protecting human lives,” he said.

His statements come after an American submarine torpedoed the Iris Dena about 44 nautical miles (81km) off Sri Lanka’s southern coast.

The frigate, which was carrying about 180 crew, was part of a multinational naval exercise in the Bay of Bengal. Sri Lanka lies in the Indian Ocean, southeast of India and southwest of the Bay of Bengal.

The sinking of the Iris Dena marked an escalation in the widening Middle East conflict.

Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi called it an atrocity at sea and said the US would bitterly regret the attack.

US defence secretary, Pete Hegseth touted it as an example of America’s military prowess, claiming it was the first sinking of an enemy ship by a torpedo since World War Two.

While it is the first time since 1945 that an American submarine has sunk an enemy ship this way, the UK and Pakistan have both sunk vessels using torpedoes since then.

The Iris Dena was one of about 20 Iranian navy vessels destroyed since Israel and the US launched co-ordinated strikes on Iran over the weekend.