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World04 March 2026 - 17:39

Sri Lankan deputy foreign minister says 80 killed after Iranian navy ship sinks

US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth says: "America is winning, decisively, devastatingly and without mercy."

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by BBC NEWS
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Iranian military ship Iris Dena docked in Rio de Janeiro's port in February 2023




We're beginning to get more details of the Iranian navy ship that sank off the coast of Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka's deputy foreign minister tells local TV that at least 80 people were killed after the strike in the Indian Ocean, Reuters news agency reports.

A spokesperson from Sri Lanka's navy earlier said, according to the documentation of the ship, 180 are believed to have been on board.

Earlier, Sri Lanka's navy confirmed that it rescued 32 people after it received a distress call from Iranian navy ship "Iris Dena".

If Sri Lanka's deputy foreign minister's and the navy spokesperson's figures are correct, that leaves around 68 people unaccounted for.

US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth says: "America is winning, decisively, devastatingly and without mercy."

"We are only four days in", he says, but "as Trump has said" the US "will take all the time we need" to make sure the operation is a success.

Hegseth says that in the Indian Ocean, the US sank "an Iranian warship that thought it was safe in international waters".

"Instead it was sunk by a torpedo," he says.

Hegseth did not name the Iranian ship that was attacked.

But earlier the Sri Lankan navy reported the IRIS Dena went down in the Indian Ocean, with around 140 people on board missing.

Hegseth says the results over the past four days have been "incredible, historic really".

"They are toast, and they know it," he says referring to the Iranian regime.

He adds that US forces have begun to "hunt, dismantle, demoralise, destroy and defeat" the regime's capabilities.

He says that Iranian leaders will be looking up and seeing only "US and Israeli air power" until US and Israel decide the war is over.

This "was never meant to be a fair fight, and it's not a fair fight", says Hegseth, adding that the US is punching Iran "while they're down".

"More and larger waves are coming, we are just getting started," he says.

Hesgeth praises Israel and says their part in the war is being executed with "unmatched skill and iron determination".

He says fighting alongside such a capable ally is a "breath of fresh air".

Hegseth claims this is "bold action" from President Trump putting "America first".

"Four days in, we have just begun the fight," he says.



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