US submarine sinks Iranian warship off Sri Lanka, at least 80 dead
Sri Lanka said it had launched a search-and-rescue operation to locate survivors after receiving a distress call, with 32 people rescued
A US submarine sank an Iranian warship off the southern coast of Sri Lanka, US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Wednesday, dramatically widening Washington’s pursuit of the Iranian navy.
Sri Lanka’s deputy foreign minister said at least 80 people were killed in the attack on the frigate IRIS Dena, which was heading back to Iran from an eastern Indian port.
“An American submarine sank an Iranian warship that thought it was safe in international waters,” Hegseth said at the Pentagon. “Instead, it was sunk by a torpedo. Quiet death.”
The Iranian vessel had taken part in a naval exercise held in the Bay of Bengal from February 18 to 25, according to the drill’s website.
Sri Lanka said it had launched a search-and-rescue operation to locate survivors after receiving a distress call, with 32 people rescued by its navy and treated at a hospital in the southern port city of Galle.
Foreign minister Vijitha Herath said 180 people were on board the ship.