Amid the significant geographical expansion of the US-Iran conflict, the sinking incident of the “Dena” escort ship in the Indian Ocean on Wednesday (March 4) continues to escalate. According to the latest disclosures, a deceased Iranian sailor on the ship had a conversation with his father before the attack, revealing that the US military had issued a clear warning before launching the strike.
However, what could have been avoided casualties ultimately turned into a tragedy due to the decisions made by the ship’s captain.
According to an exclusive report by “Iran International,” sources quoted the father of the deceased sailor as saying that the 32-year-old sailor revealed in his last contact before his death that the US submarine had issued a warning before taking action. At that time, some crew members aboard the ship realized the imminent threat and had a heated dispute with the commander, demanding permission to abandon ship and evacuate. However, the ship’s commander was adamant and refused to let the crew leave the “Dena.” Eventually, the ship was struck and sunk by a torpedo launched by a US submarine about 19 nautical miles off the port of Galle in southern Sri Lanka.
It is reported that the 32 known survivors are mostly those crew members who managed to board lifeboats and escape the chaos. US Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, described the operation as a “Quiet Death,” indicating that submarine torpedo attacks have a high level of concealment and lethality, often swiftly destroying targets that are defenseless or unable to retaliate.
Significantly, this is the first time that the US has used torpedoes to sink an enemy warship in combat since World War II, seen as a significant escalation in Washington’s military actions against the Iranian naval forces.
Currently, the whereabouts of the survivors have become a focal point of diplomatic negotiations. A document dated Friday (March 6) obtained by Reuters from an internal US State Department cable indicates that the US has pressured the Sri Lankan authorities not to repatriate all Iranian personnel, including the 32 survivors of the “Dena” and the 208 sailors rescued from the replenishment ship “IRIS Booshehr.”
The “IRIS Booshehr” also belongs to the Iranian navy and was hit in the same operation as the “Dena,” followed by a large-scale search and rescue mission conducted by the Sri Lankan authorities.