- Tehran has warned the US that it would "bitterly regret" torpedoing an Iranian warship in the Indian Ocean
- US Navy sank IRIS Dena, killing 87 Iranian sailors, which the Iran Minister said was "an atrocity at sea"
- It was the first US sinking of an enemy ship by torpedo since World War II
Iran launched a new wave of attacks Thursday morning at Israeli and American bases and threatened that the United States would "bitterly regret" torpedoing an Iranian warship in the Indian Ocean.
The US Navy sank warship IRIS Dena Tuesday night, killing 87 Iranian sailors, which Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi decried Thursday as "an atrocity at sea". The warship had participated in a naval exercise in India just weeks ago.
"The U.S. has perpetrated an atrocity at sea, 2,000 miles away from Iran's shores. Frigate Dena, a guest of India's Navy carrying almost 130 sailors, was struck in international waters without warning," he said in a post on X. "Mark my words: The U.S. will come to bitterly regret (the) precedent it has set."
Iranian sailors who survived the submarine strike were recovering at a hospital in the Sri Lankan port city of Galle, authorities said today, adding search and rescue operations for an estimated 60 people on board who remain unaccounted for would continue.
The 32 rescued sailors were being treated for minor injuries and could be released from hospital later today, authorities said. Two policemen guarded the entrance to ward No. 58 of the hospital as nurses milled about and doctors conducted morning rounds.
The attack, which dramatically widens the scope of the war, happened hundreds of miles across the Indian Ocean from the Gulf, where US and Israeli forces are striking Iran and Tehran is retaliating with missile and drone attacks.
The US and Israel launched the war Saturday, assassinating Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, targeting missile arsenal and nuclear program while suggesting that toppling the government is a goal. But the exact aims and timelines have repeatedly shifted, signaling an open-ended conflict.
"An American submarine sank an Iranian warship that thought it was safe in international waters," US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said at the Pentagon. "Instead, it was sunk by a torpedo. Quiet death."
It was the first US sinking of an enemy ship by torpedo since World War II. "Like in that war," Hegseth said, "we are fighting to win."
According to the Pentagon, one of the central objectives of the campaign is to eliminate Iran's naval capabilities.
General Dan Caine, a senior American officer, said US forces had already destroyed more than 20 Iranian naval vessels.
"We have destroyed more than 20 Iranian navy vessels and have effectively neutralized, at this point in time, Iran's major naval presence in theater," he said
A Pentagon video purporting to have captured the attack showed the warship being hit by a huge explosion, which blew apart the rear of the vessel, lifting it from the water, and causing it to begin sinking from the stern.
During his Pentagon briefing, Hegseth did not give a definitive timeline for US operations, which Trump has said could last for a month or longer.
"You can say four weeks, but it could be six. It could be eight. It could be three," Hegseth said. "Ultimately, we set the pace and the tempo. The enemy is off balance, and we're going to keep them off balance."
US and Israeli military officials say launches from Iran have declined as their attacks have taken out ballistic missiles, launchers and drones.
At least 1,045 people have been killed in Iran, the country's Foundation of Martyrs and Veterans Affairs said Wednesday. Eleven people have died in Israel. Six US troops have been killed, including a major whose identity was released Wednesday.
Iran's leaders are scrambling to replace Khamenei, who ruled the country for 37 years. It is only the second time since the 1979 Islamic Revolution that a new supreme leader is being chosen.
