Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake says his country rejected a request from the United States to allow two of its fighter jets to land at Mattala International Airport, Al Jazeera reports.

Speaking in parliament, Dissanayake said Colombo received separate requests on February 26 — one from Iran seeking permission for three naval vessels to make a goodwill visit, and another from the US requesting landing clearance for two fighter aircraft stationed near Djibouti to land at Mattala International Airport, News 1st has reported.

“With two requests before us, the decision was clear,” he said, noting the government denied both to avoid taking sides just days before the US-Israel war on Iran began.

Earlier this month, dozens of Iranian sailors were killed in a US strike in international waters off the southern coast of Sri Lanka when a US submarine torpedoed the Iranian warship IRIS Dena in the Indian Ocean.