US submarine sinks Iranian warship in Indian Ocean
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This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Celia Hatton, and it's 16 Hours GMT on Wednesday, the 4th of March. These are our main stories. The United States has sunk an Iranian warship off the coast of Sri Lanka. Iran has carried out further attacks on several countries as Israel and the U.S. continue to strike Iranian targets. Funeral ceremonies for Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, that were due to begin today, have been postponed. Also in this podcast, we hear from Iranians who fled across the border to Turkey to escape the war. There is a lot of chaos in the city, a lot of missiles and attacks.
We hear some things, some collisions outside of the city, sleeping in fear and waking up in stress.
We're focusing on the US-Israel war with Iran. In this podcast, we'll have the latest on Iranian drone and missile attacks across the Gulf region. They're happening as American and Israeli airstrikes on Iran continue. We'll also be hearing from BBC Persian about the situation on the ground in Tehran. But first, the US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth says a torpedo fired by a US submarine has sunk an Iranian warship in the Indian Ocean.
In fact, yesterday in the Indian Ocean, and we'll play it on the screen there, an American submarine sunk an Iranian warship that thought it was safe in international waters. Instead, it was sunk by a torpedo. Quiet death. The first sinking of an enemy ship by a torpedo since World War II. Like in that war, back when we were still the War Department, we are fighting to win.
BBC Verify has clarified that claim, and it's not the first sinking of an enemy ship by torpedo since World War II. The British sank an Argentinian ship in 1982, and an Indian frigate was torpedoed by a Pakistan submarine in 1971. However, if confirmed, it is the first time since 1945 that an American submarine has done this. Pete Hegseth did not name the ship during a briefing, but earlier the Sri Lankan Navy picked up a distress call from the Iris Dana. Lucy Hawkins has been speaking to our South Asia correspondent in Mumbai, Yogita Lamaye. I actually spoke to the Sri Lankan Navy spokesman a short while back, and he at that time had refused to comment. He'd in fact rejected reports that it was a submarine attack on this particular ship and had said that the cause of the sinking was still under investigation.
What they had said is that early this morning, the Sri Lankan Navy had received a distress call. It came from roughly just over 40 miles off the coast of Sri Lanka, off the southwestern coast of Sri Lanka near the city of Gaul. When they responded to this particular call, they say that what the first responders saw was patches of oil floating on the water, as well as some life rafts, after which they started search and rescue operations. They said that at the time, 32 people had been rescued, brought to a hospital in the city of Gaul. And when they spoke with those people, that's when they confirmed that they were on board the Iranian ship, Iris Dana. They said that the search and rescue operation is still ongoing.
They were hoping to find more survivors. They've seen the documentation of this particular ship. And from that documentation, they say 180 people were believed to be on board. Of course, the exact number can only be confirmed by other people who were on board the ship. And what do we know about the location of where this happened, Yagita? Was it in Sri Lankan waters or international waters? So the Sri Lankan Navy spokesman said that it didn't happen in their waters, but it was in their search and rescue nation. And as a maritime nation, they said this is our international obligation. That's why we've launched this search and rescue operation, and we will continue going on with it. Now, as far as this ship is concerned, there is an
earlier post from the Indian Navy, a post from mid-February, which talks about this ship being a part of an international fleet review that was hosted by India.
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