WASHINGTON: A US submarine sank an Iranian warship off the southern coast of Sri Lanka, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Wednesday (Mar 4), touting the strike as evidence of America’s global reach in its war on Iran.
“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.
Sri Lankan authorities said they had rescued 32 crew members from the frigate IRIS Dena but that 148 other sailors were missing, with hopes low that any more would be found.
Hegseth called the attack “quiet death” and the first US sinking of an enemy ship by torpedo since WWII.
“Like in that war,” he said, “we are fighting to win.”
The Pentagon says one of the main aims of the US-Israeli war against Iran, launched Saturday, is to wipe out the country’s navy.
Sri Lanka’s foreign minister, Vijitha Herath, told parliament that the rescued Iranians were rushed to the main hospital in the island’s south while two navy craft and a plane were deployed to search for others.
The frigate issued a distress call at dawn on Wednesday and in less than an hour a rescue vessel reached the area about 40km south of the southern port of Galle, the minister said.
The frigate had completely sunk and only an oil patch remained when the navy rescue boats approached.
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/asia/sri-lanka-rescues-sailors-iran-warship-dena-sinks-5969876
