At least 87 dead after US submarine sinks Iranian warship near Sri Lanka
A torpedo fired by a US submarine sank an Iranian warship off the coast of Sri Lanka, whose navy said Wednesday it recovered 87 bodies and rescued 32 people. The Iranian vessel sunk in the Indian Ocean was the Islamic Republic’s “prize ship,” US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said.
At least 87 Iranian sailors have died, and 32 others were rescued after a U.S. Navy submarine fired a torpedo that sank the Iranian frigate IRIS Dena in the Indian Ocean near Sri Lanka’s southern coast, officials said.
The strike confirmed by U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth marked one of the few instances since World War II of a submarine sinking a surface warship. Hegseth described the attack as a torpedo strike on a ship that “thought it was safe in international waters.
The Iranian vessel issued a distress call early Wednesday and was believed to be carrying about 180 personnel when the torpedo hit. Sri Lanka’s navy responded with search and rescue operations, recovering bodies from the sea and rescuing dozens of survivors, who were taken to hospital in the port city of Galle.
Bodies and survivors brought to land
A video released by the US Department of Defense on X showed the moment of the torpedo attack. The Iranian ship appears to be hit by an underwater explosion that causes it to break apart, as a large plume of water rises up in the air. The 32 people rescued were admitted to a hospital in Galle, a town on Sri Lanka’s southern coast, Sampath said.
The bodies recovered were also being brought to land, he said. At the National Hospital in Galle, Iranian sailors’ bodies were arriving in trucks and being stored in a makeshift mortuary.
The hospital was guarded by Sri Lankan police and naval personnel, as workers unloaded bodies away from view. Dr. Anil Jasinghe, a top health ministry official, said one of those rescued is in critical condition, seven are receiving emergency treatment and others are being treated for minor injuries.
The IRIS Dena one of Iran’s newest warships patrolled in deep water, and was armed with heavy guns, surface-to-air missiles, anti-ship missiles and torpedoes. It carried one helicopter.
The ship had been sanctioned by the US Treasury Department in February 2023, along with eight executives of an Iranian drone manufacturer that supplied weapons to Russia for use against civilian targets in Ukraine.
At least 17 Iranian naval vessels have been sunk during the ongoing war, said US Admiral Brad Cooper, who leads the American military’s Central Command.
Iran launched a new wave of attacks Thursday morning at Israeli and American bases and threatened that the United States would “bitterly regret” torpedoing the warship.
