A defiant Iran despatched a second warship towards Sri Lanka’s territorial waters Thursday, barely 24-hours after a U.S. submarine destroyed an Iranian Navy frigate in the area, killing at least 84 sailors, a minister told parliament.
Sri Lanka media minister Nalinda Jayatissa said the latest Iranian warship was just outside Sri Lankan waters, but gave no further details, AFP reports.
President Anura Kumara Dissanayake was meeting top officials to discuss a response to an Iranian request to enter the safety of the island’s waters so as not to be despatched to the ocean floor during Operation Epic Fury, official sources said.
They said the vessel was carrying more than 100 crew and feared they too could be targeted the same way a sister vessel was sunk by a U.S. submarine just off Sri Lanka’s southern coast on Wednesday, AFP notes.
The sinking of IRIS Dena came as the war sparked by a joint U.S.-Israel attack on Iran continued to spread across the Middle East and beyond.
Breitbart News reported Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Thursday denounced the U.S. attack and warned Washington it would “bitterly regret” the precedent it has set.
“The US has perpetrated an atrocity at sea, 2,000 miles away from Iran’s shores. Frigate Dena, a guest of India’s Navy carrying almost 130 sailors, was struck in international waters without warning,” he posted on X.
“Mark my words: The US will come to bitterly regret precedent it has set.”
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