️ US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth stated that a US submarine torpedoed an Iranian warship in international waters off the coast of Sri Lanka.
️ In a Pentagon briefing on Wednesday, Hegseth described the strike on the Iranian vessel as the "first such attack on an enemy since World War II."
️... Sri Lanka's government reported recovering several bodies and rescuing 32 wounded sailors after an Iranian military ship sank just outside the island's territorial waters.
️ The country's deputy foreign minister told local television that at least 80 people were killed in the strike.
️ Authorities informed Al Jazeera that the frigate IRIS Dena, located about 40 nautical miles (75km) off Galle in southern Sri Lanka, sent out a distress call between 6am and 7am (00:30 to 01:30 GMT) on Wednesday.
️ Sri Lankan officials said the ship had about 180 crew members on board, and a search and rescue operation was underway.
️ The Iranian frigate was returning from participating in the 2026 International Fleet Review last month in eastern India's coastal city of Vishakapatnam.
️ Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath told parliament that the navy received information the ship was in distress, and the government dispatched ships and air force planes for a rescue mission.
️ A Sri Lankan navy spokesperson said no other ship or aircraft was observed in the area where the Iranian warship sank.
️ Reporting from outside a hospital in Galle, where wounded crew members were taken, Al Jazeera's Minnelle Fernandez said Sri Lankan officials were still trying to determine the fate of the nearly 150 other crew members.
️ Fernandes noted that an Iranian embassy official in Colombo said two officers have been sent to Galle "to talk to the survivors to get a sense of what might have happened on the ship."
️ The warship's sinking occurred as the United States and Israel conduct air strikes on Iran for a fifth day after killing Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and nearly 800 other people, including dozens of schoolgirls.
️ Tehran has responded with drone and missile attacks on Israel and US-linked assets in Gulf countries, causing multiple fatalities. Six US service members have been killed and many others injured.Source: www.aljazeera.com
