- US defense chief confirms American torpedo attacked Iranian warship in Indian Ocean

ISLAMABAD / ISTANBUL

At least 87 sailors are confirmed dead after an Iranian warship was attacked by a US torpedo near the South Asian Island nation of Sri Lanka, according to media reports.

Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Vijhita Hearth said that 87 bodies of sailors were recovered and search and recovery operations are continuing in the waters off the southern city of Galle, local English newspaper Daily Mirror reported.​​​​​​​

While another 32 sailors of the IRIS Dena vessel were wounded and are being treated at the Karapitiya Teaching Hospital in Galle, the Iranian warship was carrying 180 crew members.

A search and recovery operation is continuing in the waters off the southern city of Galle, Hearth added.

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth confirmed American forces attacked the Iranian warship, which had participated in a naval drill off the Indian coast last month.

“In the Indian Ocean, an American submarine sank an Iranian warship that thought it was safe in international waters,” Hegseth told reporters at the Pentagon.

"Instead, it was sunk by a torpedo," he said. “The first sinking of an enemy ship by a torpedo since World War II.”

Sri Lankan Navy spokesman Buddhika Sampath said a joint rescue operation was launched after the vessel had issued a distress call saying it had been hit.

“We found people floating in the water and rescued them. Later on, we found upon inquiring that they belonged to the Iranian ship,” he said.

The IRIS Dena is a Moudge-class frigate serving in the Iranian Navy’s Southern Fleet.

Sampath said when the navy responded to the distress call, “a vessel could not be found, and only traces of oil spills were visible,” and the incident had occurred “beyond our waters.”

Before the attack, the Iranian warship had recently taken part in the Milan 2026 multinational naval exercise and fleet review held in the Bay of Bengal.

It was on the way home.

The attack comes as the US and Israel continue airstrikes on Iran that began Saturday, which have killed Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and 866 others, including scores of schoolgirls.

According to the Foundation of Martyrs and Veterans Affairs, an Iranian government-linked body, the death toll has climbed to 1,045.

Tehran has responded with drone and missile attacks targeting US-linked sites in Gulf countries, causing multiple fatalities. Six US service members have been killed and many others have been injured.