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The U.S. and Israel's war with Iran has expanded to the Indian Ocean. That's where an American submarine sank an Iranian warship in international waters today close to Sri Lanka. NPR's Diaa Hadid reports from Mumbai.
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UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: It is getting more and more intense and more and more bizarre.
DIAA HADID, BYLINE: Initially, there was disbelief. This is Indian broadcaster NDTV.
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UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Now there are reports coming in of a submarine attack on an Iranian ship somewhere off the coast of Sri Lanka.
HADID: The Sri Lankan foreign minister said they received a distress call, so they dispatched ships and aircraft on a rescue mission. They recovered more than 80 bodies and rescued more than 30 people. More remain missing. Within hours, the defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, announced an American submarine sunk the IRIS Dena, one of Iran's newest warships.
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PETE HEGSETH: It was sunk by a torpedo. Quiet death. The first sinking of an enemy ship by a torpedo since World War II.
HADID: The attack set off ripples of anxiety across South Asia. The attack occurred close to Sri Lanka. That island is close to India's southeastern tip. And the question is, was Sri Lanka or India given a heads up?
SUSHANT SINGH: My fear is that there is no such evidence so far that they informed either the Indians or the Sri Lankans.
HADID: Sushant Singh lectures in South Asian studies at Yale University. He's also a former Indian military officer. He says it's a concern because India has cordial relations with the Trump administration. And it has pointedly not condemned the assassination of Iran's head of state on Saturday, even though the country had working relations with Tehran. Making it worse, the Iranian vessel had departed from a ceremonial fleet review in an Indian port in late February.
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HADID: The review was overseen by the Indian president and the defense minister, Rajnath Singh, who had posted videos on X set to dramatic music celebrating the event as navies coming together for peace.
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HADID: India has so far not commented on the sinking of the Iranian vessel. Sri Lanka's government has called for peace and says it doesn't want to become a victim of this conflict. Singh says the incident will also set off alarms for China, which analysts say is seeking to project its dominance over the Indian Ocean.
SINGH: If the U.S. Navy is doing this here, it really sends a signal which, obviously, Chinese are likely to take more seriously.
HADID: A signal to allies and rivals that America will operate where and how it wants.
Diaa Hadid, NPR News, Mumbai.
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