US Submarine Sinks Iranian Warship in First Such Attack Since World War II

An American submarine sank an Iranian warship — identified as the IRIS Dena — in the Indian Ocean near Sri Lanka on Wednesday, in what Secretary of War Pete Hegseth confirmed is the first incident of a U.S. submarine sinking an enemy vessel since the end of World War II. The attack, carried out with a $4.2 million torpedo, sent a warship with a complement of approximately 180 sailors to the bottom of the sea. The historic strike came as the Pentagon signaled that Operation Epic Fury will accelerate with more intense airstrikes and the possible mobilization of Kurdish ground forces in Iraq and Iran — opening yet another dimension of a conflict that has already expanded across the entire Middle East. For the families of the Iranian sailors — many of them young conscripts with no great love for their regime — the torpedo strike is a reminder that the cost of war is borne most heavily by those who had the least say in starting it.