IRIS Dena was one in every of Iran’s latest fight ships, and had 180 personnel on board when the submarine attacked.
Stories of the Dena being in misery first emerged in a single day between Mar. 3 and Mar. 4, 2026, from Sri Lankan sources. The ship was working outdoors of territorial waters close to the southwestern metropolis of Galle, seemingly remaining distant from their residence in an in the end unsuccessful try and keep away from turning into a sufferer of the U.S.-Israeli strikes in opposition to Iran.
Dena’s sister vessels, Jamaran and Sahand, had already been fully destroyed within the earlier days of Operation Epic Fury, alongside Iran’s just lately unveiled drone service IRIS Shahid Bagheri. Just one ship of the Moudge class, a 1500 ton gentle frigate armed with weapons and a small variety of missiles, apparently now stays in energetic service as a frigate.
.@CENTCOM confirms that 🇺🇸US forces sunk the 🇮🇷Iranian drone service, IRIS Shahid Bagheri (transformed service provider ship commissioned February 2025) throughout the opening phases of Operation Epic Fury. pic.twitter.com/k1kufl58Ro
— Navy Lookout (@NavyLookout) March 2, 2026
By the point Sri Lankan search and rescue forces, which included ships and plane, reached the scene the frigate was already fully submerged. A number of figures are being reported as to what number of crew members have been rescued, starting from 32 to 79, however it’s clear that may have been many fatalities among the many 180 mentioned to have been on board.
Sir Lankan sources disputed the concept a U.S. submarine had been concerned within the sinking, however U.S. officers talking anonymously to Reuters later confirmed that the U.S. was accountable. In a press convention, it was then formally confirmed by U.S. Secretary of Protection Pete Hegseth {that a} U.S. Navy submarine destroyed the vessel with a torpedo.
Hegseth on Iran:
Yesterday within the Indian Ocean, an American submarine sank an Iranian warship that thought it was secure in worldwide waters.
As a substitute, it was sunk by a torpedo. pic.twitter.com/VoPvGgCtLq
— Conflict Report (@clashreport) March 4, 2026
This information marks solely the second identified time in historical past {that a} nuclear submarine had sunk one other vessel in fight. The one earlier instance was throughout the Falklands Battle, the place Royal Navy submarine HMS Conqueror destroyed the Argentinian cruiser ARA Common Belgrano with a salvo of Mark VIII straight-firing torpedoes.
pic.twitter.com/Wc1e0B0um7
— Division of Battle 🇺🇸 (@DeptofWar) March 4, 2026
U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Workers Common Dan Caine confirmed to reporters that the ship was destroyed by a single Mark 48 torpedo fired from a U.S. Navy quick assault submarine, with video footage taken by the submarine exhibiting the ship’s hull basically damaged in half by the explosive power of the weapon.
Uncertainties of Battle
A shock assault by a submarine is a well timed reminder that there are numerous issues in regards to the ongoing battle that, as civilian observers, we merely can’t be completely sure on. It has been mentioned on plenty of events by U.S. officers in latest days that alongside all the introduced property concerned in Operation Epic Fury, U.S. forces are additionally deploying ‘categorised results’ in opposition to Iran. A few of these are virtually definitely digital and cyber warfare based mostly, although using still-classified munitions and even plane just isn’t solely removed from not possible – it’s seemingly.
The Battle Zone reported on Feb. 28 on the looks of a brand new variant of the Tomahawk missile, which sported an uncommon shiny black end moderately than the uninteresting gray normally seen. That is theorized to be a low observable (LO) enhancing function, probably a part of the improve bundle delivered because the Maritime Strike Tomahawk. It seems basically similar to the coating seen on the AGM-158C Lengthy Vary Anti-ship Missile (LRASM).
🇺🇸 By way of CENTCOM: RGM-109E Tomahawk with a black (presumably low observable) coating. Between that and the ahead swept wings. We could now know what the CLASSIFIED Price Ingredient in Tactical Tomahawk Procurement is.
$37 million in procurement {dollars} was spent in FY2023 on… pic.twitter.com/w0DpVMmXWx
— Colby Badhwar 🇨🇦🇬🇧 (@ColbyBadhwar) February 28, 2026
Moreover, footage of cruise missiles in flight have proven designs with ahead swept wings. The looks of the missile, in any other case, is just like a Tomahawk – whether it is certainly a Tomahawk this could be the primary time one has been seen with this modification. Ahead swept wings would contribute to reducing the missile’s radar cross-section, however moreover may provide improved maneuverability which is an extra measure for elevated survivability.
It’s virtually sure as effectively that the mysterious ‘RQ-180’ lengthy vary surveillance drone has additionally been energetic on this battle, although up to now now we have solely seen footage of a smaller Israeli flying wing drone. This has been claimed because the secretive ‘RA-01’, however we assess it to have truly been a unique kind.
This seems to be a smaller Orbiter drone, not the RA-01. For comparability, that is what the RA-01 is believed to appear to be:
— The Aviationist (@TheAviationist) March 2, 2026
There have now been 1000’s of strikes in opposition to Iranian targets, and though civilian open-source intelligence analysts have been working exhausting to confirm and geolocate photographs and photographs that has made it into the general public area, social media continues to be plagued by examples of previous footage being handed off as present and even AI-generated content material being claimed as official. Whereas being conscious of sources is sweet recommendation at any time, throughout occasions like this the necessity to confirm and hint the accuracy of reporting is extremely vital.
