The US struck Iranian frigate Dena, a guest of India’s navy carrying almost 130 sailors, in international waters without warning, Iran’s foreign minister asserts on X.
“The US will bitterly regret the precedent it has set,” Abbas Araghchi says.
The U.S. has perpetrated an atrocity at sea, 2,000 miles 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 U.S. will come to bitterly regret precedent it has set. pic.twitter.com/cxYiI9BLUk
— Seyed Abbas Araghchi (@araghchi) March 5, 2026
A US submarine strike hit the Iranian vessel off Sri Lanka’s southern coast, thousands of miles from the Gulf, killing dozens.
His statement came after and Iranian frigate IRIS Dena, which had participated in India’s MILAN 2026 multinational naval exercise in Visakhapatnam and was returning home in international waters (~40 nm south of Sri Lanka), was torpedoed by a US submarine on March 4.
According to reports gathered from multiple sources including Reuters and Sri Lankan officials, 87 sailors confirmed dead from the IRIS Dena sinking. Sri Lanka rescued 32 survivors (some wounded). ~61 remain missing; total crew was ~180. The frigate was returning from India’s MILAN exercises when torpedoed by a US sub in international waters off Sri Lanka.
Sources at the helm of affairs in Iran claim that the statement by Iran’s Foreign Minister might be translated as a warning, that the U.S. attack on the frigate Dena in international waters had crossed a red line and that the Islamic Republic’s naval and missile forces were disciplined, united, and fully prepared to respond.
“Any further aggression will be met with decisive, overwhelming, and strategically precise retaliation, showing that Tehran’s sovereignty and regional authority cannot be challenged,” they added.
