A US submarine sank an Iranian vessel using an underwater torpedo for the first time since the Second World War, it was announced on Wednesday.
The high-precision strike came as Pete Hegseth said the military is ramping up its bombing campaign on Iran, declaring America is 'just getting started.'
The US has hit over 2,000 targets in its war on Iran, which has lasted just over 100 hours. And a top Iranian mastermind behind the plot to assassinate Donald Trump after the 2024 election was taken out.
The US military has 'taken control of the skies' and is now launching 'laser-guided precision gravity bombs' hours after Iran's new supreme leader was named as Ali Khamenei's son, Mojtaba. Khamenei was killed in joint US-Israeli strikes on Saturday.
One of the biggest accomplishments, according to the Secretary of War, is the annihilation of an Iranian warship using an underwater torpedo.
'An American submarine sunk an Iranian warship that thought it was safe in international waters,' Hegseth said at a morning press conference at the Pentagon.
'Instead, it was sunk by a torpedo, [a] quiet death, the first sinking of an enemy ship by a torpedo since World War II.'
In 1982, Great Britain's nuclear-powered submarine HMS Conqueror sank an Argentine ship with a torpedo during the Falklands War.
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth announced that a US submarine sank an Iranian warship with a torpedo, the first attack of its kind since the Second World War
Video released by the Department of War shows the US submarine's view of the exploding Iranian warship
Hegseth said the torpedo attack occurred on Monday in the Indian Ocean. The secretary did not name the vessel, but earlier, an Iranian warship sank off the coast of Sri Lanka.
A video of the incident, taken from the US submarine's periscope and released by the Department of War, shows the Iranian warship jolt violently upwards before exploding in a giant plume of smoke and water.
The military used a Mark 48 Torpedo - with a 650-pound warhead - which was detonated under the vessel's stern.
The rear section of the boat was lifted out of the water momentarily after impact in the video.
Sri Lankan foreign affairs minister Vijitha Herath announced that the strike occurred around 5am local time. He told parliament 180 people were on board the Iranian vessel, which he identified as the IRIS Dena.
'By 6am we dispatched a naval vessel and by 7am the second naval vessel,' Hegseth said. Sri Lankan officials announced at least 80 people were killed in the torpedo attack.
Sri Lankan officials also noted how 32 members of the crew were rescued and brought to a local hospital. There are still 148 Iranian sailors who are unaccounted for and suspected of having drowned as a result of the strike.
The IRIS Dena was one of Iran's newest warships. It was reportedly equipped with surface-to-air missiles, a cannon, machine guns, torpedo launchers and anti-ship missiles.
US forces have struck or sunk to the bottom of the ocean more than 20 ships from the Iranian regime, according to CENTCOM. Last night, CENTCOM added a Soleimani-class warship to the list
An Iranian ship releases a plume of smoke after being hit with a US strike
A map of US military action so far is displayed during a news conference with Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dan Caine at the Pentagon
The Iranian frigate IRIS Dena anchored in the port of Rio de Janeiro in 2023
The tip of the vessel can be seen before it is engulfed by the waters of the Indian Ocean
The vessel took part in a naval drill in the Bay of Bengal from February 18 to 25, according to the exercise's website.
'The Iranian Navy rests at the bottom of the Persian Gulf,' Hegseth said.
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs General Dan Caine celebrated the feat alongside Hegseth at the Pentagon, noting that the US has struck more than 2,000 targets.
'We've destroyed more than 20 Iranian naval vessels,' Caine said.
US Central Command (CENTCOM) released a video compilation of US strikes on Iranian vessels on Wednesday.
'Iran's major naval presence in theater out there, as the Secretary showed the video, for the first time since 1945, a United States Navy fast attack submarine has sunk an enemy combatant ship using a single Mark 48 torpedo to achieve immediate effect, sending the warship to the bottom of the sea,' Caine said.
The Iranian vessel before the torpedo impact
The force from the torpedo sent a towering plume of what appears to be smoke and water into the air
Hegseth was joined by Caine to give an update at the Pentagon as the war hit over 100 hours.
The secretary claimed that an Iranian leader who plotted to assassinate Trump was killed in US strikes.
Hegseth said 'the leader of the unit that attempted to assassinate President Trump has been hunted down and killed,' at a press conference at the Pentagon on Wednesday.
Though this was 'not the focus' of the mission and 'never raised by the president,' Hegseth said he and others ensured the leader was added to the 'target list.' He did not identify the individual or specify the nature of the plot against Trump.
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said on Monday one of the top goals for Operation Epic Fury is to completely destroy the Iranian Navy
Trump has claimed that he authorized the US-Israeli strikes that killed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Saturday because intelligence showed that Iran was targeting him.
'Four days in, we have only just begun,' Hegseth said. 'Now with complete control of the skies, we will be using 500-pound, 1,000-pound and 2,000-pound GPS and laser-guided precision gravity bombs of which we have a nearly unlimited stockpile.'
Hegseth said the US had opened the campaign with 'exquisite standoff munitions,' sophisticated long-range weapons designed to strike from beyond the reach of enemy air defenses.
He said those munitions were no longer needed, pushing back against reports of stretched supplies, assuring that 'our stockpile of those remains extremely strong.'
Tomahawk missiles cost upwards of $2 million apiece; gravity bombs deliver a comparable punch for roughly $25,000 per unit, though they require total air superiority to be deployed within range.
Entering day five of the conflict, over a thousand are confirmed dead.
At least 1,045 people have been killed in Iran, the country's Foundation of Martyrs and Veterans Affairs said Wednesday.
In Israel, 11 have died. More than 50 people have been killed in Lebanon, according to the health ministry. At least six US troops have been killed.
