3 minutes of readingUpdated: Mar 5, 2026 12:47 am IST
When the video begins, the silhouette of a ship sailing on the seas appears for the first time. But soon a powerful projectile hits the ship. It turns out that the projectile was a torpedo fired by the United States and the ship was a warship operated by Iran. The Iranian ship suffers an underwater explosion. The ship breaks apart and gallons of water rise into the air.
The US War Department released images of its attack that sank the Iranian warship IRIS Dena in international waters near Sri Lanka. Nearly 180 people are believed to be on board, while the Lanka Navy has so far recovered 87 bodies and rescued 32 people. Several sailors are believed to be still missing.
During a Pentagon news conference, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said the Iranian ship was the Islamic Republic’s “prize ship.”
One of the few cases of a submarine sinking a ship since World War II, it also highlighted that the conflict with Iran had spread beyond the Gulf region.
“A U.S. submarine sank an Iranian warship that it thought was safe in international waters,” Hegseth said at a Pentagon news conference. “Instead, she was sunk by a torpedo.”
The War Department later released a video on its X-handle showing the moment the US projectile hit IRIS Dena.
https://t.co/PiqQpVIrMu pic.twitter.com/Wc1e0B0um7
— Department of War 🇺🇸 (@DeptofWar) March 4, 2026
What did Sri Lanka do?
Sri Lankan officials said the country’s navy received a distress signal from the IRIS Dena. The island nation then sent ships and planes on a rescue mission, according to Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath.
But it was too late. When the Sri Lanka Navy arrived at the scene, they could only find “a few oil patches and life rafts,” said Navy spokesman Commander Buddhika Sampath.
“We found people floating in the water.”
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The 32 rescued people have been admitted to a hospital in Galle and the recovered bodies are also being shifted ashore.
What is IRIS Dena?
The IRIS Dena, which by the way was one of Iran’s newest warships, was patrolling in deep waters. It was armed with heavy cannons, surface-to-air missiles, anti-ship missiles and torpedoes, as well as carrying a single helicopter.
The ship was sanctioned by the US Treasury Department in February 2023, along with eight executives of an Iranian drone manufacturer that supplied weapons to Russia for use against civilian targets in Ukraine.
During the press conference at the Pentagon, the head of the US Central Command, Admiral Brad Cooper, said that at least 17 Iranian warships have been sunk during the current war against Iran. Decimating the Iranian Navy is one of the stated objectives of the US military operation.
