A US submarine torpedoed and sank an Iranian warship in the Indian Ocean, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced. According to Sri Lanka’s deputy foreign minister, at least eighty people have died, Reuters writes. Hegseth told reporters that this was the first such attack on an enemy since World War II.
Sri Lankan authorities said they rescued thirty-two people from the sunken ship. It was the ship Iris Dena. Local media reported that it sent a distress signal off the coast of the southern city of Galle and that the injured ended up in hospital. The island nation dispatched a rescue mission to the scene, but found no vessel in the area, only a large oil slick and dead and alive sailors. According to Sri Lankan authorities, there were apparently 180 people on board the Iranian ship, which was heading back to Iran from a port in eastern India.
“A U.S. submarine sank an Iranian warship that thought it was safe in international waters. Instead, it was sunk by a torpedo. A silent death,” Minister Hegseth said.
The current war in the Middle East began with US and Israeli strikes on Iran on Saturday morning. The attacked country launched military retaliation shortly after, launching missile and drone attacks on Israel and US bases and other targets in the Persian Gulf region. During Operation Epic Fury, Iran’s supreme spiritual leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was killed, among others.
At a joint press conference with Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan Cain, the head of the Pentagon expressed his belief that the United States is winning the war with Iran.
