‘IRIS Dena was an Indian Navy guest, hit without warning’: Iran warns US of bitter regret
Iran’s foreign minister accused the United States of committing an “atrocity at sea,” after a U.S. Navy submarine
A day after a US submarine sunk an Iranian Navy warship off the coast of Sri Lanka, the Foreign Minister of Iran, Sayed Abbas Araghchi, warned that the US would “pay bitterly” for targeting a ship in international waters.
Araghchi posted on social media platform X on Thursday saying, “The US has perpetrated an atrocity at sea, 2,000 miles away from Iran’s shores.”
The frigate IRIW Dena, a guest of India’s Navy carrying almost 130 sailors, was struck in international waters without warning, said the Iran Foreign Minister, adding, “Mark my words: The US will come to bitterly regret the precedent it has set.”
Yesterday, the US Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, on Wednesday confirmed that a US submarine fired a torpedo and sank the Iranian Navy vessel IRIS Dena west of Sri Lanka.
In a way, the Iran-US-Israel conflict has reached close to the Indian coast. The strike today at sea was almost 4,000 kms away from Iran, significantly expanding the radius of war. Already, fearing Iranian missile strikes, several US warships have moved eastward towards India.
These ships are in international waters. India has denied that any US Navy assets were using Indian ports. The Iranian ship, hit on Wednesday, was returning after participating in the international fleet review and exercise Milan hosted by India at Visakhapatnam.
The Iranian ship went down with almost 130 sailors on board, missing. The Sri Lankan Navy, acting on a distress call, rescued 32 of the Iranian sailors.
Hegseth confirmed the act by the US forces, saying the ship was hit in the Indian Ocean, stating, “An Iranian warship that thought it was safe in international waters… Instead, it was sunk by a torpedo.”
