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U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth announced Wednesday that an American submarine sank an Iranian warship with a torpedo in the Indian Ocean, the first time a U.S. submarine has fired a torpedo against an enemy ship since World War II, as he declared "America is winning" in the fifth day of Operation Epic Fury.
"We sank an Iranian warship that thought it was safe in international waters," Hegseth told reporters at a Pentagon briefing alongside Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine.
"Instead, it was sunk by a torpedo," he noted.
Three U.S. officials also confirmed to Reuters that the U.S. military carried out the strike against the Iranian warship off the coast of Sri Lanka.
Hegseth did not confirm the name of the vessel.
Sri Lanka's navy said earlier Wednesday it had rescued 32 people from the Iranian frigate IRIS Dena after receiving a distress call.
"Though it was beyond our waters, it was within our search and rescue region. So we were obliged to respond as per international obligations," Sri Lankan Navy spokesperson Budhika Sampath told the BBC.
"We found people floating on the water, rescued them, and later when we inquired, we found that those people are from an Iranian ship," Sampath said.
Sri Lankan authorities recovered several bodies from the sea. At least 101 people remained missing from the approximately 180-member crew.
"I stand before you today with one unmistakable message about Operation Epic Fury. America is winning, decisively, devastatingly and without mercy," Hegseth stated.
"Only the United States of America could lead this, only us. But when you add the Israeli Defense Forces, a devastatingly capable force, the combination is sheer destruction for our radical Islamist Iranian adversaries. They are toast, and they know it. Or at least soon enough they will know it," he added.
Hegseth said the United States and Israel would have "complete control of Iranian skies" within the next two days.
"I hope all the folks watching understand what uncontested airspace and complete control means," he said, adding that "it means we will fly all day, all night, day and night, finding, fixing and finishing the missiles and defense industrial base of the Iranian military."
He said the campaign was "never meant to be a fair fight." "We are punching them while they're down, which is exactly how it should be," Hegseth said, adding that the U.S. was "playing for keeps."
Hegseth said the U.S. and Israel no longer needed to use "standoff" weapons to degrade Iranian air defenses and would now pick off Iranian targets using much less expensive GPS- and laser-guided precision gravity bombs.
He acknowledged that air superiority did not mean Iran would stop launching missiles at American allies.
He noted that 90% of American troops had been moved out of range of Iranian fire before the war started, a statement that drew questions, given that Iranian retaliatory strikes have killed at least six U.S. service members and seriously wounded 10 others.
Hegseth said U.S. forces had "hunted down and killed" the leader of the Iranian covert unit that planned to assassinate President Donald Trump in 2024.
"Iran tried to kill President Trump. And President Trump got the last laugh," Hegseth said.
He said more and larger waves of strikes were coming.
"We are just getting started," he said.
"Our air defenses and those of our allies have plenty of runway. We can sustain this fight easily for as long as we need to," he added.
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