Author: Fatima Qamar Abbasi

Introduction On 4 March 2026, a United States Navy fast-attack submarine fired a single Mark 48 torpedo that sent the Iranian frigate IRIS Dena to the bottom of the Indian Ocean off the coast of Sri Lanka. The strike, the first torpedo sinking of an enemy warship by a U.S. submarine since the closing days of the Second World War, killed at least 87 Iranian sailors and left 32 others rescued by Sri Lankan vessels. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi described the vessel as having been “a guest of India’s navy” only days earlier. The frigate had just returned from…