Hegseth says a torpedo from US submarine sank Iranian warship

Defence secretary Pete Hegseth (Konstantin Toropin/AP)

Defence secretary Pete Hegseth says a torpedo from a US submarine sank an Iranian warship.

In a Pentagon briefing on Wednesday, Mr Hegseth said that the Tuesday night strike on an Iranian warship was the first such attack on an enemy since the Second World War.

“An American submarine sunk an Iranian warship that thought it was safe in international waters,” Mr Hegseth said.

“Instead, it was sunk by a torpedo.”

A press briefing at the Pentagon (Konstantin Toropin/AP)

Earlier, authorities said 32 people were rescued from the Iranian ship that was reported in distress off the coast of Sri Lanka.

It was not immediately clear what happened to the ship or how many people were on board.

The US military said previously it had already destroyed 17 Iranian vessels, and that its goal was sinking “the entire navy”.