The US launched a torpedo attack against an Iranian warship in the Indian Ocean this Wednesday (4), the first such attack since World War II.
The attack hit the Iranian frigate IRIS Dena, which was in Brazil in 2023 and carried around 180 crew members. It later sank in international waters, off the coast of Sri Lanka.
“An American submarine sank an Iranian warship believed to be safe in international waters. Instead, it was sunk by a torpedo, a silent death, the first sinking of an enemy ship by a (US) torpedo since World War II,” Hegseth said at an earlier news conference.
In a televised speech, Sri Lanka’s Deputy Foreign Minister General Aruna Jayasekara said that at least 80 deaths had been confirmed so far.
The US Department of Defense released a video of Wednesday’s military operation. See the moment of the torpedo firing below:
Presence of Iranian Navy ships generated tension between the US and Brazil in 2023
The US and Brazil experienced a diplomatic crisis even before the tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump last year.
The reason was the arrival of the helicopter carrier IRIS Makran and the frigate IRIS Dena, belonging to the Iranian fleet, in Brazilian waters, in 2023. The situation generated deep friction with Washington.
At the time, the US ambassador to Brazil, Elizabeth Bagley, said that “these ships, in the past, facilitated illicit trade and terrorist activities and have already been sanctioned by the UN [Organização das Nações Unidas]. Brazil is a sovereign country, but we strongly believe that these ships should not dock anywhere.”
The government of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) took days to give authorization for the vessels to dock, which coincided with a meeting with the then US president, Joe Biden.
