A United States submarine torpedoed and sank an Iranian warship in the Indian Ocean off the southern coast of Sri Lanka on Wednesday, US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth confirmed, marking a dramatic escalation in the ongoing US-Israeli military campaign against Iran. At least 80 people were killed and over 150 remain missing after the Iranian frigate IRIS Dena went down approximately 44 nautical miles off the city of Galle.
Sri Lanka’s navy received a distress call from the Iranian vessel between 6 and 7 in the morning local time and launched a search and rescue operation with the support of the Sri Lankan air force. Thirty-two survivors were rescued and taken to a hospital in Galle, while authorities recovered several bodies from the waters where the ship sank.
Hegseth Confirms the Strike, Calls It Historic
Speaking to reporters, Hegseth made no attempt to conceal Washington’s role in the sinking. “An American submarine sunk an Iranian warship that thought it was safe in international waters. Instead, it was sunk by a torpedo,” he said. He described the attack as a “quiet death” and noted that it was the first time the United States had sunk an enemy warship using a torpedo since the Second World War.
The Pentagon has stated that one of the central objectives of the US-Israeli war against Iran, which was launched on Saturday, is to systematically destroy Iran’s naval capabilities.
What Was IRIS Dena and Where Was It Heading?
The IRIS Dena was a Moudge-class frigate and the newest vessel in the Iranian naval fleet. It was armed with surface-to-air missiles, anti-ship missiles, cannons, machine guns and torpedo launchers. The ship was returning to Iran after participating in the MILAN 2026 multinational naval exercises hosted by the Indian navy in Visakhapatnam, India, just days earlier.
Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath informed parliament that the ship had 180 people on board when it sent out its distress call. The vessel was located outside Sri Lanka’s territorial waters but within its exclusive economic zone at the time it sank.
Rescue Operation Underway, Casualties Confirmed
Sri Lankan navy spokesman Buddhika Sampath confirmed that bodies had been recovered from the area where the ship went down and that the search for remaining crew members was continuing. The country’s deputy foreign minister later confirmed on local television that at least 80 people had been killed in the strike.
Rescue efforts involving both naval vessels and air force aircraft remained ongoing as authorities continued searching the Indian Ocean for survivors.
Wider War Intensifies as Tehran Mourning Is Postponed
The sinking of the IRIS Dena comes as US and Israeli airstrikes continue inside Iran. Israel said on Wednesday that it had struck what it described as security headquarters across Tehran. A three-day state funeral for former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, which had been scheduled to begin on Wednesday evening, has been postponed amid the ongoing strikes.
Civilians in the Iranian capital described a worsening situation on the ground. “It’s getting worse and worse every day,” one man in Tehran told the BBC.
The torpedo attack on the IRIS Dena is the first US military strike on Iranian forces to take place outside the Middle East since the war began, signalling that the conflict is rapidly expanding beyond its original geographic boundaries and into open ocean warfare.
