By Obinna Uballa
A United States submarine has sunk an Iranian warship off the southern coast of Sri Lanka, leaving at least 87 sailors dead and dozens still missing, according to Sri Lankan officials.
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth confirmed that an American submarine carried out the strike, describing it as the first time since World War II that the US had sunk an enemy ship with a torpedo.
“An American submarine sunk an Iranian warship that thought it was safe in international waters. Instead, it was sunk by a torpedo,” Hegseth told reporters, calling the attack a “quiet death.”
Sri Lankan authorities said the vessel, identified as the IRIS Dena, went down about 40 kilometres south of the port city of Galle after issuing a distress call at dawn on Wednesday.
The Sri Lankan navy recovered 87 bodies from waters near Galle, while 61 crew members remain unaccounted for. Thirty-two sailors were rescued, many of them wounded, and rushed to the main hospital in the southern city, officials said.
Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath told parliament that two navy craft and an aircraft were deployed for search-and-rescue operations within Sri Lanka’s designated maritime zone in the Indian Ocean.
“We responded to the distress call under our international obligations, as this is within our search and rescue area,” Sri Lankan navy spokesman Buddhika Sampath said, adding that only an oil slick remained when rescue teams reached the site.
The Pentagon has indicated that a key objective of the ongoing US-Israeli military campaign against Iran is to neutralise Tehran’s naval capabilities.
Sri Lanka, which has maintained neutrality and called for dialogue to resolve Middle East tensions, said it would not release footage of the rescue because it involved the military of another state. Security was heightened around the Galle hospital as injured Iranian sailors were brought in for treatment.
Iran’s ambassador to Colombo was not immediately available for comment.
The incident marks a sharp escalation in hostilities in the region and raises fresh concerns over maritime security in the Indian Ocean.
