Tehran warns US after Iranian frigate IRIS Dena sunk near Sri Lanka with heavy losses
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi looks on after he delivered a speech during a session of the United Nations Conference on Disarmament, on the sideline of a second round of US-Iranian talks with Washington in Geneva, on February 17, 2026. PHOTO: AFP
Iranian Foreign Minister Abas Araghchi accused the United States of committing an atrocity by sinking an Iranian navy ship off Sri Lanka and warned it would “bitterly regret” the precedent set.
“The US 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 posted on X.
“Mark my words: The US will come to bitterly regret precedent it has set”, he added.
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.
Mark my words: The U.S. will come to bitterly regret precedent it has set. pic.twitter.com/cxYiI9BLUk
— Seyed Abbas Araghchi (@araghchi) March 5, 2026
The ship’s sinking by US forces killed at least 87 sailors and left dozens missing, officials said.
The sinking came as the war sparked by a joint US-Israel attack on Iran continued to spread across the Middle East.
“An American submarine sunk an Iranian warship that thought it was safe in international waters. Instead, it was sunk by a torpedo,” US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth told reporters in Washington.
He called the attack “quiet death” and the first US sinking of an enemy ship by a torpedo since World War II. “Like in that war,” Hegseth said, “we are fighting to win.”
Read: Trump doesn’t rule out sending US troops into Iran
The Sri Lankan navy recovered the bodies of 87 sailors from waters near the southern city of Galle, but 61 remained missing, police and defence officials said.
“A search is still on for the others,” a navy official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
Earlier, Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath said Sri Lankan forces had rescued 32 sailors, many wounded, from the stricken Iranian frigate IRIS Dena.
The rescued sailors are being treated in Galle, where an AFP photographer saw the first batch of over two dozen bodies being transported into a hospital on Wednesday evening.
The vessel issued a distress call at dawn but had completely sunk by the time a rescue ship reached the area within an hour, leaving only an oil patch on the surface, said Sri Lankan navy spokesman Buddhika Sampath.
With input from Web Desk
