GALLE, Sri Lanka — Sri Lanka’s navy recovered 87 bodies and rescued 32 survivors after an Iranian warship was sunk by a torpedo fired from a U.S. submarine in the Indian Ocean off the country’s southern coast, authorities said Wednesday.
According to Sri Lanka’s government, the vessel identified as the IRIS Dena carried about 180 people when it went down. The Sri Lankan navy launched a search-and-rescue operation after receiving a distress signal, deploying ships and aircraft to the area, Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath told Parliament.
The incident is part of a broader U.S.-Israeli military campaign against Iran that has extended beyond the Middle East. U.S. President Donald Trump previously said that a key objective of the conflict was to neutralize Iran’s naval capabilities.
Speaking at a Pentagon briefing, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth confirmed that the Iranian vessel had been struck by a torpedo fired from an American submarine.
“An American submarine sunk an Iranian warship that thought it was safe in international waters,” Hegseth said. “Instead, it was sunk by a torpedo.”
A video released by the U.S. Department of Defense on the social media platform X appeared to show the moment of the strike. The footage shows an underwater explosion hitting the vessel, which then breaks apart as a large plume of water shoots into the air.
The 32 rescued crew members were taken to a hospital in Galle, a coastal city in southern Sri Lanka. Health officials said one survivor remains in critical condition, while seven others are undergoing emergency treatment and the rest are being treated for minor injuries.
Dr. Anil Jasinghe, a senior official from Sri Lanka’s Health Ministry, said the bodies of the victims were transported to the National Hospital in Galle, where a temporary mortuary was set up to handle the influx of casualties.
The IRIS Dena, one of Iran’s newer warships, was equipped with heavy guns, surface-to-air missiles, anti-ship missiles and torpedoes, and also carried a helicopter. The vessel had previously been sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department in February 2023, along with executives from an Iranian drone manufacturer accused of supplying weapons to Russia for use in the war in Ukraine.
U.S. Adm. Brad Cooper, commander of the American military’s Central Command, said at least 17 Iranian naval vessels have been destroyed since the start of the conflict.
The rare submarine strike, one of the few recorded instances of a submarine sinking a warship since World War II, underscores the escalating maritime dimension of the war involving Iran and its adversaries.
Edgardo Hernal started college at UP Diliman and received his BA in Economics from San Sebastian College, Manila, and Masters in Information Systems Management from Keller Graduate School of Management of DeVry University in Oak Brook, IL. He has 25 years of copy editing and management experience at Thomson West, a subsidiary of Thomson Reuters.
- EDGARDO HERNAL
- EDGARDO HERNAL
- EDGARDO HERNAL
- EDGARDO HERNAL
