Iran has criticised the sinking of its warship in the Indian Ocean.
Iran’s Foreign Minister, Abbas Araghchi asserted that the US has “perpetrated an atrocity at sea” by sinking the Iranian naval frigate Dena, which it would come to “bitterly regret.”
“The US has perpetrated an atrocity at sea, 2,000 miles (3219km) away from Iran’s shores. Frigate Dena, a guest of India’s Navy carrying almost 130 sailors, was struck in international waters without warning. Mark my words: The US will come to bitterly regret (the) precedent it has set.”
Abbas Araghchi
The Iranian ship was on its way back from participating in a February exercise hosted by the Indian navy. The US Navy also participated in the same exercise with a P-8A Poseidon aircraft, which is employed for anti-submarine and anti-surface warfare as well as surveillance and reconnaissance.
According to Sri Lanka’s navy, at least 87 bodies have been recovered, and 32 sailors have been rescued after the Iranian military ship sank just outside the island’s territorial waters yesterday.
Authorities disclosed that Iranian sailors who survived the US submarine strike in the Indian Ocean are recovering at a hospital in the Sri Lankan port city of Galle, adding that the 32 rescued sailors were being treated for minor injuries and could be released from hospital soon.
Authorities at the National Hospital in Galle and navy sources said that the 87 bodies were brought in by military rescuers who responded to an early-morning distress call from the IRIS Dena.
Sri Lanka’s Foreign Minister, Vijitha Herath, told Parliament that after the country’s navy received a distress signal from the IRIS Dena, which had 180 people on board, it sent ships and planes on a rescue mission.
However, by the time Sri Lanka’s navy reached the location, there was no sign of the ship, “only some oil patches and life rafts,” Navy Spokesman Commander Buddhika Sampath said, adding, “We found people floating on the water.”
Search and rescue operations for an estimated 60 people on board who remain unaccounted for would continue today.
The IRIS Dena, one of Iran’s newest warships, patrolled in deep water, and was armed with heavy guns, surface-to-air missiles, anti-ship missiles and torpedoes. It carried one helicopter.
The ship had been sanctioned by the US Treasury Department in February 2023, along with eight executives of an Iranian drone manufacturer that supplied weapons to Russia for use against civilian targets in Ukraine.
US Admiral Brad Cooper, who leads the American military’s Central Command, asserted that at least 17 Iranian naval vessels have been sunk during the ongoing war.
Meanwhile, the US and Israel continue to pound Iran, with explosions shaking Tehran as well as other areas.
Iran launched a new wave of attacks this morning at Israeli and American bases. Israel announced multiple incoming missile attacks and air sirens sounded in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. The Israeli military said that it also launched targeted attacks.
The tempo of American and Israeli strikes on Iran was so intense yesterday that state television announced the mourning ceremony for Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed at the start of the conflict, would be postponed. Millions attended the funeral of his predecessor, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, in 1989.
Iran fired on Bahrain, Kuwait and Israel as the conflict spiraled. Turkey said that NATO defenses intercepted a ballistic missile launched from Iran before it entered Turkey’s airspace.
However, the General Staff of Iran’s Armed Forces released a statement today, denying firing any missile towards Turkiye. “The armed forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran respect the sovereignty of the neighbouring and friendly country, Turkiye, and deny any missile launches toward that country’s territory,” said the Iranian army statement.
Death Toll Exceeds 1000
The war has killed more than 1,000 people in Iran, more than 70 in Lebanon and around a dozen in Israel, according to officials in those countries. It has disrupted the supply of the world’s oil and gas, and international shipping. It has also stranded hundreds of thousands of travelers in the Middle East.
Countries around the region braced for potential dangers today, a day after Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard threatened “the complete destruction of the region’s military and economic infrastructure.”
Qatar’s Interior Ministry said that authorities were evacuating residents near the US Embassy in Doha as a temporary precaution, without providing further details.
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