US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said Wednesday that a US submarine sank an Iranian warship, the IRIS Dena, in international waters – killing more than 80 crew according to authorities in Sri Lanka who launched a rescue mission.
"An American submarine sunk an Iranian warship that thought it was safe in international waters," Hegseth said during a press conference at the Pentagon. "Instead, it was sunk by a torpedo."
The Pentagon released video of the attack showing a ship that experiences a massive explosion by its stern as well as what appeared to be still frames showing the ship sinking.
At least 87 bodies have been recovered so far, according to Sri Lankan officials, while some 32 others were rescued by the Sri Lankan Navy.
Some 130 people were believed to have been on board the vessel when the first distress call was received on Wednesday, according to the country's foreign minister.
"The US has perpetrated an atrocity at sea, 2,000 miles away from Iran's shores," Iran's top diplomat Abbas Araghchi said on X. "Mark my words: The US will come to bitterly regret precedent it has set."
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Destroying Iran's navy has been one of the most cited objectives of senior US administration officials regarding the ongoing military campaign that started over the weekend. Adm. Brad Cooper, commander of US Central Command, said ina recorded video messageon Tuesday that the US has destroyed more than 17 Iranian ships thus far, including "the most operational Iranian submarine that now has a hole in its side."
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine said it was the first time a US attack submarine had used a torpedo to sink a combat ship since 1945.
It was not immediately clear which event he was referring to, but the USS Torsk destroyed multiple Japanese combat ships in 1945.
Torpedoes have been used since then, dropped from aircraft and not in combat. In 1951, a US attack squadron launched torpedoes on a dam in South Korea, blocking advancing enemy forces, according to theUS Navy. In 1999, a US attack submarine successfully used a torpedo to sink an oil ship after other efforts with explosives had failed to scuttle the ship.
This story has been updated with additional reporting.
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