US Navy Sinks Second Iranian Warship as War Spreads to Indian Ocean and Over 200 Crew Are Rescued Near Sri Lanka

A U.S. submarine sank a second Iranian warship in the Indian Ocean on Thursday, killing 87 crew members and prompting Sri Lanka to coordinate the rescue of 208 survivors, as the naval dimension of Operation Epic Fury expanded far beyond the Persian Gulf. The strike, conducted hundreds of miles from the main theater of operations, demonstrates that the U.S. military is now engaging Iranian forces across multiple oceans simultaneously. Sri Lanka's president announced the rescue operation, underscoring how the conflict is drawing neutral nations into humanitarian roles they did not seek. The sinking follows the historic first submarine-vs-warship engagement earlier in the week -- the first such attack since World War II -- and signals that Iran's navy, while vastly outmatched, is attempting to disperse its forces rather than concentrate them near the Strait of Hormuz. The Indian Ocean engagement raises the stakes for global shipping routes and draws the conflict into the strategic waters that connect the Middle East, South Asia, and East Africa.