87 bodies found off Sri Lanka; Iran claims control of the Strait of Hormuz; Turkey says its missile was destroyed by NATO
This screenshot from a video released by the US Department of Defense shows what it says is a periscope image of a US Navy submarine shooting and sinking an Iranian warship in the Indian Ocean. Photo: AFP
GALÉ/WASHINGTON:
A U.S. submarine torpedoed and sank an Iranian warship in the Indian Ocean on Wednesday, killing at least 87 sailors and dramatically widening a regional conflict that is in its fifth day, as fighting rages from the Gulf to Jerusalem and southern Lebanon.
Sri Lankan authorities said dozens of bodies had been found after the frigate IRIS Dena sank about 40 kilometers south of Galle port. Hospital officials in the southern city confirmed that 87 bodies had been brought ashore, while 32 crew members had been rescued and treated.
Between 60 and more than 100 sailors are missing out of the approximately 180 on board. “We have recovered 87 bodies and the search is still underway to find the others who are still missing,” a Sri Lankan navy official told AFP.
Another defense official said rescuers found only an oil slick when they arrived at the site. “We found people floating in the water and rescued them,” said navy spokesperson Commander Buddhika Sampath.
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth confirmed the strike, telling the Pentagon: “A US submarine sank an Iranian warship that thought it was safe in international waters. Instead, it was sunk by a torpedo. A quiet death.”
The Pentagon said it was the first time since World War II that a U.S. submarine had sunk an enemy ship. Gen. Dan Caine, the top U.S. military officer, said Washington had destroyed more than 20 Iranian naval vessels since the war began on Saturday.
Additionally, Iranian Intelligence Ministry agents have signaled their openness to the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) for talks on ending the war, The New York Times reported Wednesday, citing officials briefed on the matter.
The offer was made through an unnamed country’s spy agency, the New York Times said, citing Middle Eastern officials and officials from a Western country who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The White House and the CIA did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Washington officials are skeptical about whether Iran or the Trump administration are actually ready to take an “exit,” at least in the short term, the report added.
Strait of Hormuz
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said Wednesday they were in full control of the Strait of Hormuz, a key waterway for global energy transit, as Israel launched a new wave of strikes on the Iranian capital.
In Lebanon, the Israeli army asked residents south of the Litani River to move north, warning that the army was “forced to take military action” against Hezbollah in the region.
Governments around the world raced to evacuate citizens stranded by the Middle East war, with Iran expanding its barrage of missiles and drones on the fifth day of a war that has sent global stocks into a tailspin.
The war sparked by a US-Israeli attack that killed supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has seen Iran lash out with missile and drone strikes from Israel across the Gulf, and also drawn Tehran’s proxy Hezbollah into Lebanon.
Cities like Dubai and Riyadh, which have long prided themselves on being sheltered from the region’s tumult, have been drawn in, with the growing chaos sparing few countries close to Iran.
A ballistic missile launched from Iran and heading toward Turkish airspace via Iraq and Syria was destroyed by NATO air defense systems, Turkish officials said Wednesday.
With energy prices already soaring, President Donald Trump said the U.S. Navy was ready to escort oil tankers through the crucial Strait of Hormuz.
Previously, the Revolutionary Guards had warned ships against entering the strait, and major shipping companies have already suspended their transit through the waterway, with maritime agencies reporting several attacks on ships.
A ballistic missile launched from Iran and heading toward Turkish airspace via Iraq and Syria was destroyed by NATO air defense systems, Turkish officials said Wednesday.
The Defense Ministry said it was “engaged and neutralized by NATO air and missile defense assets deployed in the Eastern Mediterranean.”
The missile’s intended target was not specified. Iran struck sites across the region in retaliation after the United States and Israel launched strikes against it on Saturday.
A Turkish official, speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity, said the missile was “aimed at a base in Greek Cyprus but veered off course.”
Officials said the fragments that fell in southern Turkey’s Dortyol district near the Syrian border had been identified as pieces of the interceptor used to neutralize “the air threat.”
Qatar
Qatar’s prime minister condemned Iran’s attacks on Gulf countries on Wednesday in a call with Tehran’s foreign minister, the first high-level contact since the Islamic republic launched its missile and drone campaign.
Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani accused Iran of seeking to “harm its neighbors and drag them into a war that is not theirs”, during an interview with Iranian Abbas Araghchi, according to a statement from Qatar’s Foreign Ministry.
Gulf countries have borne much of Tehran’s response since the United States and Israel launched a massive air campaign against Iran over the weekend, with an 11-year-old girl killed by shrapnel in Kuwait on Wednesday.
Thirteen people, including seven civilians, have been killed in Gulf countries since the start of the war.
The Pentagon has announced the deaths of six American soldiers since Saturday, including four in Kuwait.
The Qatari prime minister called for “an immediate stop to these attacks” and said Iran had “struck civilian and residential areas” despite Araghchi’s claim “the Iranian missile attacks were directed against US interests and were not aimed at the State of Qatar.”
“These attacks cannot go unanswered,” added Sheikh Mohammed.
The Kuwaiti Health Ministry said that “resuscitation was carried out in the ambulance while the girl was taken to the hospital,” adding that attempts continued for almost half an hour at Al-Amiri Hospital, but she “died due to her injuries.”
The UAE and Qatar reported intercepting Iranian drone and missile barrages, with the UAE reporting it engaged three ballistic missiles and intercepted 121 of 129 drones, while Qatar reported shooting down 10 drones and two cruise missiles.
Israeli missions
Iran’s armed forces threatened on Wednesday to target Israeli missions around the world if Israel attacked Tehran’s mission in Lebanon, a military spokesperson said.
Abolfazl Shekarchi, a spokesman for the Iranian armed forces, said live on television that “if Israel commits such a crime, it will force us to make all Israeli embassies around the world our legitimate target.”
On Tuesday, Avichay Adraee, an Arabic-speaking spokesperson for the Israeli military, said it was “warning representatives of the Iranian terrorist regime who are still in Lebanon to leave immediately before being targeted,” giving them 24 hours to leave.
