US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth announced on Wednesday, 4 March, that an American submarine had sunk an Iranian warship, marking the first time since World War II that such an incident has occurred.
‘An American submarine sunk an Iranian warship that thought it was safe in international waters. Instead, it was sunk by a torpedo. Quiet death,’ Hegseth told journalists. He emphasized that the strike marked the first sinking of an enemy vessel by torpedo since World War II. ‘Like in that war, back when we were still the War Department, we are fighting to win,’ Hegseth added.
The Iranian frigate was hit by the torpedo strike while sailing near the coast of Sri Lanka. The attack reportedly killed at least 80 people on board. According to Sri Lanka’s Foreign Affairs Minister Vijitha Herath, the Sri Lankan coastguard received a distress call from an Iranian naval vessel, the IRIS Dena, at 5.08am on Wednesday. Crew members described the incident as an explosion.
‘By 6am we dispatched a naval vessel and by 7am the second naval vessel,’ Herath said. He added that Sri Lanka had an obligation to respond to the distress call, as the country is a signatory to the international convention on maritime search and rescue.
Sri Lankan officials confirmed that at least 80 people were killed in the strike. According to authorities, 32 crew members were rescued and transported to a hospital in Galle.
The IRIS Dena was the newest frigate in the Iranian naval fleet and was equipped with surface-to-air missiles, anti-ship missiles, cannons, machine guns, and torpedo launchers. The vessel was likely passing near Sri Lanka as it returned from the international fleet review hosted by the Indian navy last week.
Declassified video footage of the strike was later published by the US Department of War.
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