Overview
- U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said a submarine-fired torpedo sank the Iranian frigate IRIS Dena in the Indian Ocean off southern Sri Lanka.
- Sri Lankan authorities said 32 sailors were rescued and 87 bodies have been recovered, with dozens still missing from an estimated crew of about 180.
- The distress call was received around dawn from a position roughly 25 to 40 nautical miles south of Galle, within Sri Lanka’s search-and-rescue region but outside its territorial waters.
- The Pentagon released periscope video purporting to show the torpedo strike, and Hegseth described it as the first U.S. torpedo sinking of an enemy vessel since World War II.
- IRIS Dena had recently taken part in India’s MILAN and an international fleet review, and CENTCOM framed the sinking as part of broader operations against Iranian naval assets as Tehran remained publicly silent.