Hegseth says US submarine sank Iranian warship with torpedo in international waters

Defense Secretary Hegseth said Wednesday a U.S. submarine sank an Iranian warship with a torpedo in international waters. 

He made the statement at a Pentagon news briefing in which he alsos said the ship was sunk Tuesday night and that it was the first such attack on an enemy since World War II.

“The Iranian navy rests at the bottom of the Persian Gulf,” he said.

It was not immediately clear to which ship Hegseth was referring.

Earlier, Reuters reported U.S. military struck and sank an Iranian warship off the coast of Sri Lanka.

Three unnamed U.S. officials told Reuters the strike triggered Sri Lanka's Navy to rescue dozens of Iranian sailors. One official said the strike was carried ⁠out by a U.S. military submarine.

The strike ​triggered a distress call, causing the Sri Lankan armed forces to ​launch a search and rescue operation. Sri Lankan authorities said they had rescued 32 people and recovered several bodies from the ​sea so far.

Sri Lanka's Navy and defense ministry sources told the wire service ​the ship had been attacked by a submarine and at least ‌101 ⁠people were missing off Sri Lanka's Indian Ocean coast. Those sources said it was unclear who struck the vessel.

A Sri Lankan Navy ​spokesman said the ​report of ⁠101 people missing was untrue and rejected any reports on the cause ​of the ship sinking.

On Tuesday, the U.S. Central ​Command said it had already sunk ​17 Iranian warships and was on track to destroy Iran's entire Navy.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Wednesday that in the Indian Ocean, the U.S. sank "an Iranian warship that thought it was safe in international waters. 

"Instead it was sunk by a torpedo," Hegseth said. He did not name the Iranian ship that was attacked

The Sri Lankan Navy reported earlier that the IRIS Dena went down in the Indian Ocean, with around 140 people on board missing.