US torpedo sinks Iranian warship off Sri Lanka
An American submarine has sunk an Iranian warship in the Indian Ocean as the US and Israel intensify their bombardment of Iran’s security forces.
Source: US Department of War
The US says it has launched a torpedo for the first time since World War II to sink an Iranian warship off the coast of Sri Lanka, killing at least 87 sailors.
An American submarine struck the frigate in the Indian Ocean, about 80 kilometres off Sri Lanka’s south coast, widening the US military’s pursuit of the Iranian navy.
Sri Lanka’s deputy foreign minister said the vessel was the IRIS Dena and was heading back to Iran from an eastern Indian port.
US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said the Iranian warship thought it was safe in international waters.
“Instead, it was sunk by a torpedo,” he said at the Pentagon on Thursday (AEDT).
Hegseth boasted that the US was winning “decisively, devastatingly and without mercy”.
“They are toast, and they know it,” he said of the Iranian regime.
Hospital authorities in the Sri Lankan port city of Galle said 87 bodies were brought in by military rescuers who responded to an early morning distress call.
Another 32 were rescued and were being treated at hospital. About 60 people were likely unaccounted for from an estimated 180 people on board, Sri Lankan authorities said.
Meanwhile, Iran has fired a ballistic missile at Turkey. It was intercepted by NATO air and missile defence systems stationed in the eastern Mediterranean.
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It is the first time that NATO member Turkey, Iran’s north-western neighbour, has been drawn into the expanding conflict, which now involves several countries in the region.
A Pentagon video purporting to have captured the torpedo attack near Sri Lanka showed the warship being hit by a huge explosion which blew apart the rear of the vessel, lifting it from the water, and caused it to begin sinking from the stern.
The Iranian vessel had taken part in a naval exercise organised by India in the Bay of Bengal from February 18-25, according to the drill’s website.
Sri Lanka said it had launched a search-and-rescue operation to locate survivors after receiving a distress call.
Sri Lankan navy spokesman Commander Buddhika Sampath said boats that reached the location observed only an oil slick, adding that although the incident was outside Sri Lankan waters, the country’s authorities were still committed to providing support.
“We found people floating in the water and rescued them,” Sampath said.
“Later on, we found upon inquiring that they belonged to the Iranian ship.”
Rescuers brought bodies, covered in white sheets, in batches in a truck to the Karapitiya hospital in Galle where they were moved to the morgue.
The commander of the warship and some senior officers were among the survivors and they told the Sri Lankan navy that they were hit by a submarine attack, two Sri Lankan sources told Reuters.
More than 200 passengers have returned to Australia on a flight from the United Arab Emirates. Photo: AAP
Aussies return on first flight
Hugs and tears from anxious family members greeted tired and weary Australian evacuees who managed to get on the first flight out from Dubai.
Landing in Sydney on a humid Wednesday night, an emotional Iman Krayem was surrounded by her son Youssef and husband Nazih.
She was stuck in the United Arab Emirates for several nights, on her way to see her sick father in Lebanon, when Iranian missiles struck the gilded city in response to a barrage of US and Israeli attacks.
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“I was crying non-stop,” she said minutes after clearing customs.
“It was so stressful, I didn’t have my luggage, I had no clothes but I am happy to be back home now.”
Among the more than 200 passengers who arrived were a group of high school students travelling to Istanbul for a robotics competition.
They were accompanied by several teachers from Baker College including Daiane Becker, who was carrying her one-year old daughter Clara clutching a green bunny.
“It was really hard not knowing what’s going to happen … and if things would calm down,” she said.
Charity worker Hawra Khalil had been in Lebanon on a humanitarian trip feeding war-torn children in several cities.
Heeding the Australian government’s travel warning, Khalil managed to catch a flight to Dubai, where she was grounded with a colleague.
She said being caught in a conflict zone where she felt buildings shake, in the relative comfort of the Gulf monarchy, drove home how other citizens in Arab countries have fared in recent years.
“I just got a glimpse of it in Dubai and I had seen what people in Lebanon go through on a daily basis ten-fold,” she said.
“It is scary, you feel threatened but I have it so much easier because what I witnessed is innocent families and innocent children starving and in poverty.”
Mining executive Troy Barker landed in Dubai only for a day. He was at a popular horse race on Saturday, also attended by the Emirati ruler, when he saw drones and missiles across the city’s skyline.
“I saw a couple of missiles, but I’ve worked in Africa for 20 years so I’ve seen many things,” he said.
He praised communications from Emirates Airlines and the authorities on the ground, saying he was lucky to be home.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong earlier said she was pleased the first plane carrying Australians from Dubai to Sydney was on its way, as more than 115,000 Australians remain stranded in the region.
She revealed Prime Minister Anthony Albanese had lobbied Emirati president Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan to ensure their safe exit.
“We know this is a very difficult time. We are conscious of how distressed many people are,” she said in Canberra.
-with AP and DPA
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