A US submarine sank an Iranian warship in the Indian Ocean, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Wednesday.

"An American submarine sunk an Iranian warship that thought it was safe in international waters. Instead, it was sunk by a torpedo," Hegseth told reporters at the Pentagon.

Hegseth called the attack a "quiet death" and the first US sinking of an enemy ship by torpedo since the Second World War.

"Like in that war," he said, "we are fighting to win".

The strike triggered a distress call and ⁠the Sri Lankan armed ⁠forces launched a search and rescue operation.

Sri Lanka's foreign minister Vijitha Herath told parliament that 32 rescued Iranians were rushed to the main hospital in the island's south while two navy craft and a plane were deployed to search for survivors.

The frigate IRIS Dena – which was travelling after reportedly attending a military exercise in India's eastern port of Viskhapatnam – issued a distress call at dawn on Wednesday.

Within less than an hour a rescue vessel reached the area about 40 kilometres south of the southern port of Galle, the minister said.

The frigate had completely sunk and only an oil patch remained when the navy rescue boats approached, with AFP news agency reporting that nearly 150 people were missing.

On Tuesday, the US military's central command said it had already sunk 17 Iranian warships and ⁠was on track to destroy Iran's entire navy. (Reuters/AFP)


Edited by Aaron Tam

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Last updated: 2026-03-04 HKT 22:00