“Frigate Dena, a guest of India’s Navy carrying almost 130 sailors, was struck in international waters without warning,” he wrote in a put up on X early on Thursday.
“Mark my words: The US will come to bitterly regret precedent it has set.”
A Sri Lankan navy spokesman stated some 180 folks had been believed to have been aboard the Iris Dena, primarily based on the ship’s documentation.
The survivors had been “seriously injured” and had been taken to a hospital in the southern port of Galle, Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath stated.
Hegseth advised a information convention on Wednesday that a US submarine had sunk an Iranian warship “that thought it was safe in international waters”.
He additionally claimed it was “the first sinking of an enemy ship by a torpedo since World War Two”.
While it’s the first time since 1945 that an American submarine has sunk an enemy ship this fashion, the UK and Pakistan have each sunk vessels utilizing torpedoes since then.
Video launched by the US Department of Defense confirmed a ship being struck, inflicting the strict to stand up earlier than exploding.
Earlier, Sri Lankan navy spokesman Budhika Sampath had rejected stories that the Iris Dena had been attacked by a submarine.
He added that, on the time rescue operations had been launched, rescuers had not seen the vessel – nor some other ships in the area – however noticed oil patches and life rafts floating on the water.
Though the ship’s location “was beyond our waters”, Sampath stated, “it was within our search and rescue region. So we were obliged to respond as per international obligations”.
