Brief by Shorts91 Newsdesk / 03:00pm on 04 Mar 2026,Wednesday International
US defence secretary Pete Hegseth confirmed that an American submarine sank the Iranian frigate Iris Dena off Sri Lanka’s southern coast in a torpedo strike late Tuesday, killing at least 80 people. The vessel was 44 nautical miles off Galle, within Sri Lanka’s economic zone but outside territorial waters. Sri Lankan authorities rescued 32 crew members after receiving a distress call describing an explosion. The strike marks the first US attack on Iranian forces outside the Middle East during the conflict and the first sinking of an enemy ship by US torpedo since World War II, according to Hegseth, escalating tensions further in the region.
