The U.S. attack took place just days after the Iranian ship had participated in a flagship Indian naval exercise at the invitation of New Delhi.

U.S. sinking of Iranian warship piles pressure on India’s Modi The U.S. sinking of an Iranian warship off Sri Lanka’s coast expands the deepening Middle East war to India’s doorstep, unsettling New Delhi’s calibrated approach to the conflict as Iran vowed to avenge the attack. A U.S. submarine sank the Iranian frigate IRIS Dena off the coast of Sri Lanka on Wednesday, with 32 sailors rescued and more than 100 missing or dead. The episode was the first time since World War II that an American submarine had attacked a surface vessel, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said. Iran vows to retaliate, with Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi calling the attack an “atrocity” that the U.S. “will come to bitterly regret.”