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A U.S. submarine sank a valuable Iranian warship with a torpedo, the first such sinking of an enemy ship since World War II, Army Secretary Pete Hegseth announced Wednesday morning.
Hegseth joined Gen. Dan Cain, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, at the Pentagon to provide reporters with an update on Operation Epic Fury in Iran.
“A U.S. submarine sank an Iranian warship that they thought was safe on the high seas,” Hegseth said. “Instead, it was sunk by a torpedo. It was a quiet death. It’s the first time since World War II that an enemy ship has been sunk by a torpedo. Just like in that war when we were still the War Department. We’re fighting to win.”
Kaine said the Iranian warship was “effectively neutralized” by the navy’s “high-velocity attack” with a single Mark 48 torpedo. He added that the US Navy achieved “the immediate effect of sinking warships to the bottom of the ocean.”
Watch Hegseth’s announcement:
The Iranian ship was later identified as the frigate Iris Dena, which sank in the Indian Ocean.
A U.S. submarine sank an Iranian warship in international waters in the Indian Ocean, Army Secretary Pete Hegseth acknowledged Wednesday. (@DeptofWar / X)
In a separate incident, Hegseth said the US Navy sank another Iranian warship, the Soleimani. The flagship is named after Qassem Soleimani, a former Iranian military officer with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps who was killed in a U.S. drone strike in January 2020 during President Donald Trump’s first term.
“Iran’s navy is located on the ocean floor of the Persian Gulf. Fighting powerless, annihilated, destroyed, defeated. Choose your adjective,” Hegseth said. “In fact, last night we sank their bounty, the Soleimani. Looks like the president got him twice. Their navy has nothing to do with it. Pick your adjective. It’s over.”
Officials later announced that the Corvette-class missile ship Soleimani had sunk in the Strait of Hormuz near the Iranian coast.
This map shows US and Israeli attacks on the Iranian navy as of March 1st. (Fox News)
Hegseth also told reporters at a briefing that the United States and Israel would soon achieve “complete control” of Iranian airspace after four days of fighting had significantly reduced Iran’s missile capabilities.
The US will have a “decisive victory” over Iran and achieve “complete control” of its airspace within days, Hegseth says.
“More bombers and fighters are arriving today, giving us complete control of the skies, and we will be using our nearly unlimited stockpile of 500-, 1,000-, and 2,000-pound laser-guided precision gravity bombs,” he said.
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan Kaine speak during a press conference at the Pentagon in Washington, Wednesday, March 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Konstantin Tropin) (AP Photo/Konstantin Tropin)
The war has killed more than 1,000 people in Iran and dozens in Lebanon, and U.S. officials said six U.S. soldiers were killed in a drone strike in Kuwait.
Thousands of travelers are stranded across the Middle East.
This map shows the latest security and travel information for Americans about countries in the Middle East region. (Fox News)
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Kaine told reporters that the U.S. military was assisting thousands of Americans stranded in the Middle East after the U.S. State Department urged citizens to leave more than a dozen countries.
Ashley Carnahan of Fox News Digital and Jennifer Griffin of Fox News contributed to this report.