Iran strongly condemned the United States on Thursday after a US naval strike sank the Iranian frigate IRIS Dena in international waters, an incident Tehran described as an “atrocity at sea” that could further escalate the widening regional war.
Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi accused Washington of launching an unprovoked strike thousands of miles from Iranian territory and warned that the United States would eventually face consequences for setting what he called a dangerous precedent.
“Frigate Dena, a guest of the Indian Navy with nearly 130 sailors, was struck without warning in international waters,” he wrote on social media. “Mark my words: The US will bitterly regret (the precedent) it has set.”
The vessel was visiting the Indian Navy before the attack and was carrying around 130 sailors when it was hit, according to Iranian officials.
US submarine torpedo sinks Iranian warship
The clash at sea occurred late Tuesday in the Indian Ocean, where the US Navy deployed a submarine that launched a torpedo attack on an Iranian warship.
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth confirmed that the vessel was sunk by a US submarine, calling it part of an expanding military campaign targeting Iran’s naval and missile capabilities.
Sri Lankan authorities said 32 crew members were rescued, while the country’s navy recovered 87 bodies from the wreckage.
Iranian officials said the attack killed dozens of sailors and insisted the vessel was operating legally in international waters.
Araghchi condemned the strike as unjustified and said it demonstrated Washington’s willingness to expand the war far beyond the battlefields of the Middle East.
Iran launches new strikes as regional war intensifies
The naval strike came as the conflict between Iran, Israel and the United States has escalated dramatically across the region.
Early on Thursday, Iran launched a new wave of missile attacks targeting Israeli territory and US military bases in the Middle East.
Air raid sirens sounded in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem as Israeli air defense systems moved to intercept the incoming rockets.
Iranian state television said the attacks also targeted US facilities in the region, signaling Tehran’s determination to expand its retaliation.
Israel responded with what it described as a “massive wave of strikes against infrastructure” in Tehran. Shortly after, explosions were reported in several parts of the Iranian capital.
The Israeli military has also carried out attacks in Lebanon, targeting the Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah.
The war is expanding beyond Iran and Israel
The rapidly escalating conflict began to spread to neighboring countries and major sea routes.
Iran fired missiles towards Bahrain, Kuwait and Israel, while Turkey said NATO air defenses intercepted a ballistic missile fired from Iran before it entered Turkish airspace.
Meanwhile, tensions at sea rose after an explosion hit a commercial tanker off the coast of Kuwait early Thursday.
The UK’s Maritime Trade Operations Centre, which monitors shipping security in the region, said the explosion occurred near a vessel in waters that have increasingly become the scene of conflict.
Since the fighting began, there have been attacks on shipping in the Gulf of Oman and the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most critical energy choke points, through which about a fifth of the world’s oil supplies pass.
Brent crude prices have risen about 15 percent since the start of the conflict, reaching their highest level since July 2024.
Rising death toll in the Middle East region
The war has already claimed heavy losses in several countries.
Iranian authorities say at least 1,045 people have been killed in Iran since the conflict began. In Israel, officials reported 11 dead, with six American soldiers also killed.
The violence spread to Lebanon, where at least 70 people were killed in Israeli airstrikes on Hezbollah positions.
Explosions in Beirut’s southern suburbs late Wednesday killed three people and injured several others after Israeli drones hit vehicles in the area.
The Israeli military said it also hit “several command centers” used by Hezbollah in the Lebanese capital.
The US and Israel are signaling a prolonged military campaign
Washington and Jerusalem have suggested their military campaign could continue for weeks as they try to weaken Iran’s leadership, missile arsenal and nuclear program.
During a briefing at the Pentagon, Hegseth declined to offer a firm timetable for US operations.
“You can say four weeks, but it could be six. It could be eight. It could be three,” he said. “Ultimately, we set the tempo and the tempo. The enemy is off balance and we’re going to throw him off balance.”
President Donald Trump praised the US military’s performance, saying US forces are “doing very well on the war front, to put it mildly”.
Republicans in the US Senate largely supported the administration’s campaign and voted down a resolution that sought to stop the war.
Iran is facing a leadership crisis after Khamenei’s death
The conflict began with a series of joint US and Israeli strikes that killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s most powerful political and religious leader.
Iranian state television announced that a planned funeral ceremony for Khamenei had been postponed due to the intensity of ongoing military operations.
Iran’s clerical leadership has begun the process of selecting a successor, only the second top leadership transition since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Possible candidates include clerics and figures who favor greater engagement with the West. Mojtaba Khamenei, son of the late leader, is widely seen as a potential contender.
Meanwhile, the country’s judiciary warned that “those who collaborate with the enemy in any way will be considered the enemy.”
Growing fears of a wider regional conflict
As military strikes intensify and new fronts open in the Middle East, governments across the region are bracing for further escalation.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards warned this week of the “total destruction of the region’s military and economic infrastructure.”
Meanwhile, Qatar evacuated residents living near the US embassy in Doha as a precaution, while fighter jets were heard flying over Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.
In this context, Iran’s warning about the sinking of the IRIS Dena underlined the growing risk of the conflict spreading beyond traditional battlefields.
By attacking what Tehran described as a naval vessel on a diplomatic visit abroad, Iranian officials argue that the United States has crossed a dangerous line — one that they say Washington may soon regret.
