Sri Lanka's navy rescued 32 people after an Iranian warship sank in international waters off the island nation's coast. U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth confirmed a U.S. submarine torpedo caused the sinking of the IRIS Dena frigate, which had 180 people aboard.
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Thirty-two survivors were pulled from the waters of the Indian Ocean after an Iranian military vessel went down in international waters near Sri Lanka, according to government officials who spoke Wednesday.
Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath addressed Parliament, explaining that naval forces received a distress call about the vessel IRIS Dena, which was carrying 180 personnel and experiencing critical problems before going under. The island nation deployed both naval vessels and aircraft for the emergency response operation, Herath reported.
Navy spokesman Commander Buddhika Sampath described the scene when rescue teams arrived at the coordinates. “There was no sign of the ship and there were only some oil patches and life rafts. We found people floating on the water,” Sampath stated.
While Sampath confirmed that multiple fatalities were discovered in the water, he would not specify the exact death toll. The 32 rescued individuals have been transported to medical facilities for treatment, he added.
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth revealed Wednesday that an American submarine fired the torpedo that destroyed the Iranian ship while it operated in international waters.
Medical official Dr. Anil Jasinghe from Sri Lanka’s health ministry provided an update on the survivors’ conditions, noting that one person remains in critical care, seven others require emergency medical attention, and the remaining rescued personnel are being treated for less severe injuries.
Commander Sampath indicated that search and recovery efforts remain active in the area. He provided no additional information regarding what caused the casualties or the extent of damage the vessel sustained.
The sunken IRIS Dena represented one of Iran’s most modern naval assets — a Moudge-class frigate designed for deep-water operations. The warship carried an arsenal including large-caliber guns, air defense missiles, anti-vessel missiles, torpedoes, and one helicopter.
This frigate served as the flagship during a 2023 international deployment that included stops at ports in South Africa and Brazil. The vessel traveled alongside the support ship IRIS Makran, which was converted from an oil tanker.
Both ships were targeted by U.S. Treasury Department sanctions in February 2023, along with eight leaders of an Iranian drone company that provided weapons to Russia for attacks on Ukrainian civilian areas.
U.S. Admiral Brad Cooper, commander of American forces in the Central Command region, reported that no fewer than 17 Iranian naval ships have been destroyed during the current conflict.
“We are also sinking the Iranian navy — the entire navy,” Cooper declared in a video statement.