US and Iran spar over status of Iranian warship sunk by submarine

The United States and Iran have offered sharply different accounts of the sinking of an Iranian warship in the Indian Ocean.

Washington has rejected Tehran’s claim that the warship IRIS Dena was unarmed when it was sunk in a submarine attack near Sri Lankan waters on March 4.

In a statement Sunday on X, the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command called Iran’s assertion that the vessel was unarmed “false.”

Iranian officials say the vessel was operating in a noncombat role as it returned home after taking part in a naval exercise in India.

Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Saeed Khatibzadeh said last week the warship was “unarmed.”