An Iranian warship that was sunk by a US submarine near Sri Lanka had participated in naval exercises hosted by India before heading out into international waters in the Indian Ocean on its way home, New Delhi said.
The sinking underscored the scope of the US-Israeli war with Iran and its spread in the Middle East and beyond. It also ignited a debate in India about maritime security in the Indian Ocean — a region where New Delhi maintains a significant naval presence.
Sri Lanka's navy recovered 87 bodies and rescued 32 Iranian sailors from the IRIS Dena, which sank in international waters off the coast of the island nation — a rare instance of a submarine torpedoing a ship since World War II.
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said a torpedo from a US submarine sank an Iranian warship in the Indian Ocean. (Source: Reuters)
Sri Lanka's navy said it had responded to a distress signal from the IRIS Dena, but by the time it reached the location, there was no sign of the ship, just patches of oil and sailors floating in the water. The rescued mariners were taken to a hospital in the town of Galle, on Sri Lanka's southern coast.
US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said the sinking illustrates the US-Israeli military operation against Iran is stretching beyond its borders and described the IRIS Dena as a "prize ship".
US President Donald Trump has said one of the key objectives of the war is to wipe out Iran's navy.
Iranian warship torpedoed off the Sri Lankan coast in latest strike by an American submarine. (Source: 1News)
A video released by the US Department of Defense on X showed the moment of the torpedo attack. The Iranian ship appears to be hit by an underwater explosion that causes it to break apart, as a large plume of water rises up in the air.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi accused the US Navy of committing an "an atrocity at sea" in sinking the frigate and said on social media that the United States "will come to bitterly regret" the attack.
Araghchi said the IRIS Dena had been carrying "almost 130" crew.
India's navy and defence ministry said the Iranian warship had participated in the International Fleet Review and the multilateral naval exercise MILAN 2026, organised by the Indian navy in the port of Visakhapatnam from February 15 to February 25. The ministry said 74 countries had joined the events.
The Iranian warship was seen sailing at sea during the exercises in a February 17 post on X by the Indian navy. Another image showed several of its crew members posing on deck with the Iranian flag in the background.
Araghchi stressed that the frigate had been "a guest" of India's navy. The Indian government has not yet publicly commented on the incident.
Another Iranian warship nears Sri Lanka, and its navy takes over the vessel
Sri Lanka's media minister and government spokesperson, Nalinda Jayatissa, told parliament that another Iranian ship has entered Sri Lanka's exclusive economic zone, an area beyond its immediate territorial waters where the country has rights over natural resources.
Jayatissa did not provide further details but said the government was trying to "minimise the loss of lives and safeguard regional peace".
Later Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake said Sri Lankan navy boats started transferring 208 sailors from the Iranian warship IRIS Bushehr, first to the port in Colombo, Sri Lanka's capital.
From there, they would be taken to a naval base on the outskirt of Colombo while the warship will be taken to a port in eastern Sri Lanka. He said an agreement to take over the ship and the crew followed discussions with Iranian officials and the ship's captain.
Dissanayake also said the government was earlier told the vessel had suffered engine failure but didn't elaborate.
Questions in India over the sinking
India has long viewed the Indian Ocean as central to its security, with its navy regularly conducting patrols and multinational exercises to safeguard key sea lanes used for global trade and energy shipments. It has also traditionally sought to maintain a careful diplomatic balance in tensions between the US and Iran while emphasising on diplomacy and talks.
Indian opposition leaders, however, questioned the government's lack of response to the incident, saying the sinking of the warship so close to India's maritime neighbourhood warranted an official statement.
The opposition Indian National Congress party slammed what it called "silence" from Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government.
"The conflict has reached our backyard, with an Iranian warship sunk in the Indian Ocean. Yet the Prime Minister has said nothing," opposition leader Rahul Gandhi wrote in a post on X.
Kanwal Sibal, a former diplomat who served as India's foreign secretary from 2002 to 2003, wrote on X that India was "far from politically or militarily responsible for the US attack," but its "responsibility is at a moral and human plane".
"The US has ignored India's sensitivities," Sibal said.
"The ship was in these waters because of India's invitation."
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