U.S. sinks Iranian vessel near Sri Lanka

5 MARCH 2026

A U.S. submarine attacked an Iranian warship, which sank in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Sri Lanka, bringing the West Asian conflict closer to the Indian subcontinent.
At least 83 people were killed in the torpedo attack.
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth confirmed the strike at a press conference in Washington DC.
Mr. Hegseth said, terming it a “quiet death” and the “first sinking of an enemy ship” by a torpedo since the Second World War.
The Sri Lankan Navy rescued 32 sailors and recovered 83 bodies after a dawn distress call from the Iranian frigate IRIS Dena, which sank about 40 nautical miles off Galle on the island’s southern coast, Sri Lankan authorities said.
Sri Lanka responded swiftly, owing to its obligations under the International Convention on Maritime Search and Rescue.
IRIS Dena was returning to Iran after participating in the International Fleet Review 2026, a global maritime exercise held in Visakhapatnam in February 2026.
Sri Lanka had expressed “deep concern over the rapid escalation of hostilities” in the widening war in West Asia, now in its fifth day, and called on “all concerned parties to exercise maximum restraint and to take immediate and decisive action to de-escalate tensions”.