COLOMBO, March 4, 2026: Sri Lanka Navy has rescued 32 people from a sinking Iranian vassal (IRIS Dena), torpedoed by an American submarine in international waters. Reports in the Sri Lankan media says there were 180 people on the Iranian ship.US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, in a Pentagon briefing on Wednesday (4 March, 2026), said the strike on the Iranian warship was the “first such attack on an enemy since World War II”, Al Jazeera reported.
India invited this Iranian naval ship for an exercise. It departed after completing it, and was later sunk by an American submarine, reports on X reveal.
” The Congress on Wednesday (4 March, 2026) asked if the Narendra Modi-led government was losing influence in its own neighbourhood and whether that diplomatic space has been ceded to Washington and Tel Aviv as Pentagon confirmed that it sank an Iranian warship.
“Today, an Iranian naval vessel – returning from the Milan 2026 International Fleet Review, where it had been invited by India – was sunk by a U.S. submarine at the edge of Indian waters near Sri Lanka. Does India have no influence left in its own neighbourhood? Or has that space also been quietly ceded to Washington and Tel Aviv,” Congress leader Pawan Khera wrote on X, a few hours after it emerged that an Iranian warship (IRIS Dena) had sunk off Sri Lanka’s southern coast.
There has been no reaction from India.
Authorities told Al Jazeera the frigate IRIS Dena, located about 40 nautical miles (75km) off Galle in southern Sri Lanka, sent out a distress call between 6am and 7am (00:30 to 01:30 GMT) on Wednesday (4 March, 2026). The Washington Post reports, so far, 87 bodies have been recovered.
Sri Lanka’s leading newspaper, The Island reports quoting “Budhika Sampath, the spokesman of Sri Lanka’s navy as saying: “Though it was beyond our waters, it was within our search and rescue region. So we were obliged to respond as per international obligations.”
He adds: “We found people floating on the water, rescued them, and later when we inquired we found that those people are from an Iranian ship.”
ANI adds: The Sri Lankan government has not issued any statement on the highly escalating incident. There was a distress signal from this vessel, approximately 40km (25 miles) off the coast here in Galle, which is just south of the capital, Colombo. They then sent out boats to try to assist the survivors. At this point in time, sources say there is no evidence that there was another boat in the water, as per Al Jazeera.
The Iranian ambassador Alireza Delkhosh, said they have dispensed the military attache and consular official to the hospital to try to see if they can talk to survivors to get some sense of what exactly happened.
Earlier in the day, a Sri Lankan navy spokesperson told Al Jazeera that bodies, suspected to be those of crew members, have been recovered in an ongoing rescue operation for the crew of an Iranian military ship that made a distress call just outside the island’s territorial waters earlier.
Thirty-two people were rescued from the vessel and are receiving treatment in hospital, the spokesperson said, adding that they did not observe any other ships in the area, as per Al Jazeera.
Sri Lankan Foreign Affairs Minister Vijitha Herath confirmed that the rescued sailors are being brought to Karapitiya Hospital for medical attention.
The rescue comes amidst the ongoing West Asia Conflict.
NOTE- The above report has been made from sources – Al Jazeera, ANI, The Washington Post, The Island, The Telegraph and the photo is from India’s Eastern Naval Command, X account.
