GALLE, Sri Lanka, March 4, 2026 — A U.S. submarine torpedoed and sank Iran’s frigate IRIS Dena in international waters off Sri Lanka, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said as Sri Lankan authorities began a rescue operation, according to Reuters and Al Jazeera.
Sri Lanka’s government said it rescued 32 sailors and continued searching for the rest of the crew after the ship issued a dawn distress call about 40 nautical miles south of Galle, details reported by The Guardian and DW.
Rescue operation underway
Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath said navy vessels and aircraft were dispatched and the injured were taken to a hospital in Galle, while officials stressed the incident occurred just outside Sri Lanka’s territorial waters, as Reuters reported and Al Jazeera noted.
The IRIS Dena had recently taken part in an Indian-hosted naval exercise and was returning from a regional fleet review in the Bay of Bengal, a detail cited by Reuters and Al Jazeera.
U.S. says strike is escalation
Hegseth said the strike was carried out by a U.S. submarine and described it as the first U.S. torpedo sinking of an enemy vessel since World War II, a claim echoed by The Guardian and The Times of Israel.
The sinking underscores Washington’s effort to cripple Iran’s naval capabilities as the U.S. and Israel continue airstrikes on Iran for a fifth day, a wider context described by Reuters and DW.
Regional stakes
Sri Lanka said it responded under its maritime search-and-rescue obligations and was coordinating the operation even though the attack occurred outside its waters, details reported by The Guardian and Reuters.
Iran has not released a detailed public account of the sinking, while Sri Lankan officials said they were still determining the circumstances and declined to release footage, as DW and Al Jazeera reported.
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Image: “Iranian naval personnel reunite with their family after the first voyage around the world (03)” by Mohammad Sadegh Nikgostar / Fars Media Corporation, CC BY 4.0. Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Iranian_naval_personnel_reunite_with_their_family_after_the_first_voyage_around_the_world_(03).jpg. License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. Modifications: cropped and resized to 1920×1080 (16:9).