Hegseth made the announcement during a briefing at the Pentagon on Wednesday morning. The U.S. Department of Defense also published a video of the explosion on its X account.
“An American submarine sunk an Iranian warship that thought it was safe in international waters,” Hegseth said during the briefing. “Instead, it was sunk by a torpedo.”
https://t.co/PiqQpVIrMu pic.twitter.com/Wc1e0B0um7
— Department of War 🇺🇸 (@DeptofWar) March 4, 2026
The Pentagon chief said the vessel was an Iranian warship named Soleimani. The ship was named after former Iranian general Qasem Soleimani, who was killed on the orders of President Donald Trump during his first term.
According to U.S. officials, the engagement took place in the Indian Ocean. The attack was carried out by a U.S. Navy submarine using a torpedo.
Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs, said the submarine fired a single Mark 48 torpedo during the strike. The weapon was used to rapidly disable and sink the target.
The torpedo was launched “to achieve immediate effect, sending the warship to the bottom of the sea,” Caine said. He described the operation as a demonstration of the capabilities of U.S. naval forces.
“I want to remind everybody that this is an incredible demonstration of America’s global reach to hunt, find and kill an out-of-area destroyer is something that only the United States can do at this type of scale,” Caine added.
Caine also said the U.S. military had targeted multiple Iranian vessels during the ongoing campaign. According to the general, U.S. forces have struck 20 Iranian naval vessels so far.
