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A US submarine torpedoed and sank an Iranian ship in the Indian Ocean, fuelling fears that the US-Israeli war against Tehran is spreading beyond the Middle East.
“Yesterday in the Indian Ocean . . . an American submarine sunk an Iranian warship that thought it was safe in international waters,” US defence secretary Pete Hegseth told a Pentagon briefing on Wednesday morning.
General Dan Caine, chair of the US joint chiefs of staff, said the attack on Tuesday night was the first time since 1945 that a US submarine had used a torpedo to sink an enemy combatant ship.
The submarine used a single Mark 48 torpedo to achieve immediate effect, “sending the warship to the bottom of the sea”, Caine said.
Military officials in Sri Lanka said the country’s forces had rescued at least 32 sailors off its southern coast from what they identified as the Iranian naval frigate IRIS Dena.
Sri Lankan foreign minister Vijitha Herath told parliament there had been 180 people aboard the frigate. Sri Lanka’s navy said late on Wednesday that the bodies of 87 sailors had been recovered and a search for those still missing continued.
The vessel, which was in international waters, had visited India last month to participate in an international fleet review.
It was the first confirmed sinking of an enemy vessel by a submarine in combat since the UK’s HMS Conqueror sank the Argentine cruiser ARA General Belgrano in 1982. South Korea accused North Korea of using a midget submarine to torpedo and sink the corvette ROKS Cheonan in 2010, but Pyongyang denied any involvement.
Herath earlier told parliament that authorities from the south Asian island nation had received a message from the ship at 5am local time on Wednesday, 40 nautical miles off the southern port district of Galle.
Sri Lankan navy spokesman Commander Buddhika Sampath said that when the site was reached there was only an “oil patch” to be seen, with “no other ship visible in the area”.
The US Treasury imposed sanctions on the IRIS Dena three years ago, saying it was “property in which the government of Iran has an interest”. Washington also imposed sanctions on the frigate’s support ship IRIS Makran, a converted oil tanker.
Admiral Brad Cooper, commander of the US Central Command, said on a video posted on social media that US forces had already destroyed 17 Iranian vessels, including the “most operational Iranian submarine”, which now had “a hole in its side”.
The US goal was to sink Iran’s “entire navy”, Cooper said, adding: “For decades, the Iranian regime has harassed international shipping. Today, there’s not a single Iranian ship under way in the Arabian Gulf, Strait of Hormuz or Gulf of Oman — and we will not stop.”