Sri Lanka Rescues 32 Sailors From Iran Warship

Sri Lankan sailors were thrust into a conflict they are trying to avoid after an Iranian warship sank in the Indian Ocean off the country’s southern coast. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Wednesday that a U.S. submarine torpedoed the vessel as part of an escalating campaign against Iran—marking the first time since World War II that an American submarine has sunk an enemy ship with a torpedo during combat. The Pentagon later released video showing the ship going down. Hegseth did not name the vessel, but Sri Lankan officials said they received a distress call from the IRIS Dena, an Iranian destroyer carrying about 180 crew members.

Sri Lanka said it dispatched navy ships and aircraft under its international search-and-rescue obligations. Crews pulled 32 survivors from the water and took them to a hospital in the coastal city of Galle. Navy spokesman Capt. Buddhika Sampath said rescue teams saw bodies, oil slicks, and life rafts but not the ship itself. Officials said 87 bodies have been recovered, while dozens of sailors remain missing.

Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath emphasized that Sri Lanka’s response was conducted “on a humane basis,” even as analysts warned the incident could risk drawing the island nation of 22 million people into a conflict it has worked hard to avoid.

The Iranian ship had recently taken part in multinational naval exercises in India that included both Iran and the United States. It was heading back toward Iran when it was struck more than 2,000 miles from Tehran. In a Feb. 17 post on X, the Indian Navy’s Eastern Naval Command had welcomed the ship’s visit, describing it as a reflection of the “long-standing cultural links between the two nations.” Sources said the rescued sailors include the ship’s commander and other senior officers.

The last time a submarine destroyed a major warship was in 1982, when Britain’s HMS Conqueror sank Argentina’s General Belgrano during the Falklands War, killing 323 sailors.

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