U.S. Sub Sinks Iranian Warship in Indian Ocean

US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said an American submarine sank an Iranian warship in the Indian Ocean, Yogita Limaye and Alys Davies reported for BBC News.

Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth told a news conference that a US submarine had sunk an Iranian warship “that thought it was safe in international waters.”(Photo: U.S. Navy) 

He said the ship was sunk by a torpedo and that it died a “quiet death.”

Hegseth did not name the ship, but his announcement came after Sri Lankan officials said their navy had responded to a distress call from an Iranian vessel called the Iris Dena, which had gone down about 40 km (25 miles) off the island’s southern coastline.

Eighty bodies were recovered by rescuers, a Sri Lankan defense official told BBC Sinhala.

Another 32 people were rescued, the Sri Lankan navy said. A navy spokesman said about 180 people were believed to have been aboard the Iris Dena, based on the ship’s documentation.

The survivors were “seriously injured” and were taken to a hospital in the southern port of Galle, Foreign Affairs Minister Vijitha Herath said.

Hegseth told a news conference that a US submarine had sunk an Iranian warship “that thought it was safe in international waters.”

He also claimed it was “the first sinking of an enemy ship by a torpedo since World War II.”

While it is the first time since 1945 that an American submarine has sunk an enemy ship this way, the UK and Pakistan have both sunk vessels using torpedoes since then.