Even the former Iranian president who helped build Uma Oya has been killed.

According to Iranian state media reports, former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has been killed in a joint American-Israeli attack on his home in the Narmak area of East Tehran. Several of his bodyguards were also killed along with the former president in this attack, and information regarding the deaths of three of his bodyguards was first revealed on February 28, the first day of the American and Israeli attacks.

It is noteworthy that this assassination occurred one day after Iran's Supreme Leader was also killed in an American-Israeli airstrike.

Former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is special to Sri Lanka because he was an Iranian leader who visited the country and supported Sri Lanka's Uma Oya Development Project.

Before becoming Iran's sixth president, he served as the governor of Ardabil Province and later as the mayor of Tehran. His presidency, leading Iran's 9th and 10th administrations from 2005 to 2013, garnered significant international attention due to his strong verbal attacks against Israel and Western countries and the acceleration of Iran's nuclear program.

His re-election in the 2009 presidential election was controversial, leading to massive protests within Iran known as the "Green Movement". After stepping down from the presidency in 2013, he continued to serve as a member of the 'Expediency Discernment Council', an advisory body that resolves disputes between the parliament and the Guardian Council, until his death. However, in recent years, the 69-year-old politician had also become a popular critic of Iran's current ruling elite.

Ahmadinejad, who maintained close ties with Sri Lanka during his tenure, visited Colombo in April 2008, coinciding with his trips to Pakistan and India to discuss a pipeline to carry Iranian natural gas to India via Pakistan, and met with then-President Mahinda Rajapaksa. At the time, Colombo city was adorned with billboards displaying "traditional Asian cooperation", and he, expressing his desire for fairness and justice, agreed during that visit to provide $1.9 billion in concessionary loans and grants for Sri Lanka's Uma Oya hydropower and irrigation development projects.

Furthermore, Iran also offered to spend $700 million to triple the capacity of Sri Lanka's only oil refinery from 50,000 to 150,000 barrels per day. This visit was considered a significant step in shifting Colombo's foreign policy away from Western allies towards the Asian region, especially at a time when the war against the Tamil Tigers had resumed and Sri Lanka was facing pressure from Western countries over human rights allegations.