2 minute read
Iran's foreign minister warned of repercussions after the U.S. struck the Iranian frigate Dena in international waters without warning, saying the ship was a guest of India's navy.
“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,” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on X.
A U.S. submarine strike hit the Iranian vessel off Sri Lanka's southern coast, thousands of miles from the Gulf, on Wednesday, amid the ongoing U.S.-Israeli strikes targeting Iran.
Thirty-two Iranian sailors who survived the U.S. submarine strike in the Indian Ocean were recovering at a hospital in the Sri Lankan port city of Galle, authorities said after at least 87 were killed in the attack, Reuters reported.
Officials at the National Hospital in Galle and navy sources said 87 bodies were brought in by military rescuers who responded to an early-morning distress call from the IRIS Dena on Wednesday, according to Reuters.
Search and rescue operations for an estimated 60 people on board who remain unaccounted for would continue on Thursday, authorities said.