March 5 (UPI) -- Iran on Thursday vowed to exact revenge for the sinking of an Iranian Navy frigate by a U.S. submarine off Sri Lanka with the loss of scores of sailors.
In a post on X, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the attack was "an atrocity" that set a precedent of widening the boundaries of the conflict beyond the region that the United States would come to regret.
"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 the precedent it has set," he wrote.
Sri Lankan authorities said at least 87 people were killed when the IRIS Dena was struck by a torpedo on Wednesday, with 32 pulled from the water in a search and rescue operation mounted by the Sri Lankan Navy.
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chair Gen. Dan Caine confirmed the sinking, the first by a U.S. Navy submarine in more than 80 years, at a news briefing at the Pentagon in Washington.
