A U.S. submarine has sunk an Iranian warship using a torpedo, marking the first time an enemy vessel has been destroyed in this manner since World War II, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth announced Wednesday.
Hegseth appeared alongside Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine at the Pentagon to brief reporters about ongoing operations tied to “Operation Epic Fury” targeting Iran.
“An American submarine sunk an Iranian warship that thought it was safe in international waters,” Hegseth said. “Instead, it was sunk by a torpedo. Quiet death. The first sinking of an enemy ship by a torpedo since World War Two. Like in that war, back when we were still the War Department. We are fighting to win.”
According to Caine, the Iranian vessel was “effectively neutralized” during a Navy “fast attack” carried out with a single Mark 48 torpedo. He said the strike had an immediate impact, sending the ship to the bottom of the ocean.
Officials later identified the vessel as the IRIS Dena, an Iranian frigate that was sunk in international waters of the Indian Ocean.
In a separate naval engagement, Hegseth said U.S. forces also destroyed another Iranian ship, the Soleimani. The vessel, a corvette-class missile ship, was named after Qasem Soleimani, a senior Iranian military commander in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps who was killed in a U.S. drone strike in January 2020 during President Donald Trump’s first administration.
US Submarine Takes Down Iranian Warship
“The Iranian Navy rests at the bottom of the Persian Gulf. Combat ineffective, decimated, destroyed, defeated. Pick your adjective,” Hegseth said. “In fact, last night we sank their prize ship, the Soleimani. Looks like POTUS got him twice. Their navy is not a factor. Pick your adjective. It is no more.”
Officials later confirmed that Soleimani was sunk in the Strait of Hormuz, near Iran’s coastline.
During the same briefing, Hegseth said U.S. and Israeli forces were nearing “complete control” of Iranian airspace after several days of intense military operations that significantly weakened Iran’s missile capabilities.
“More bombers and more fighters are arriving just today, and now, with complete control of the skies, we will be using 500 pound, one thousand pound, and 2,000 pound laser-guided precision gravity bombs, of which we have a nearly unlimited stockpile,” he said.
The ongoing conflict has resulted in more than 1,000 deaths in Iran and dozens more in Lebanon. U.S. officials also reported that six American troops were killed in a drone attack in Kuwait.
Meanwhile, thousands of travelers have been stranded throughout the Middle East as the security situation deteriorates across the region.
Caine told reporters that the U.S. military is assisting thousands of Americans attempting to leave the area after the State Department advised U.S. citizens to depart from more than a dozen countries in the region.
