Galle, Sri Lanka. Sri Lankan officials said a U.S. submarine sank an Iranian warship off the country’s southern coast, killing dozens of sailors and prompting a search-and-rescue operation.
Incident and identification
Sri Lanka’s deputy foreign minister identified the warship as the frigate IRIS Dena and said it was heading back to Iran from an eastern Indian port. The attack occurred hundreds of miles across the Indian Ocean from the Gulf, where U.S. and Israeli forces are striking Iran and Tehran is retaliating with missile and drone attacks.
U.S. statement
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said at the Pentagon: “An American submarine sank an Iranian warship that thought it was safe in international waters. Instead, it was sunk by a torpedo. Quiet death.”
Casualties and rescue efforts
Hospital authorities in the Sri Lankan port city of Galle said 87 bodies were brought in by military rescuers who responded to an early morning distress call. Sri Lankan authorities said 32 people were rescued and were being treated at hospital, and about 60 people were likely unaccounted for from an estimated 180 people on board.
Sri Lanka said it launched a search-and-rescue operation to locate survivors after receiving a distress call.
Pentagon video and verification limits
A Pentagon video purporting to have captured the attack showed the warship being hit by a large explosion that blew apart the rear of the vessel, lifted it from the water, and caused it to begin sinking from the stern. The exact date when the video was filmed and the type of warship could not be verified, though the deck shape and mast in the video matched file imagery of the same type of warship as the IRIS Dena.
Recent naval exercise
According to the drill’s website, the Iranian vessel took part in a naval exercise organised by India in the Bay of Bengal from February 18 to 25.
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