Amid escalating tensions between the United States, Israel and Iran, U.S. forces sank an Iranian warship in the Indian Ocean on Wednesday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced.
Hegseth said a U.S. submarine carried out the operation, launching a torpedo that struck the vessel while it was operating in international waters. According to the defense secretary, the Iranian ship believed it was out of danger at the time of the attack.
“Yesterday in the Indian Ocean, as you can see on the screen, a U.S. submarine sank an Iranian warship,” Hegseth said. “It thought it was safe in international waters. We sank it with a torpedo.”
First torpedo sinking since World War II, Pentagon says
Hegseth described the strike as a rare event in modern warfare, saying it marked the first time since World War II that an enemy vessel had been sunk by torpedo.
“It was a silent kill,” he added, referring to the submarine’s maneuver.
The incident further raises the stakes in a rapidly widening regional conflict, with both Washington and Tehran trading military actions in recent days.
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