US carried out strike on Iranian warship off Sri Lanka coast, officials say

The United States military carried out a strike that hit an Iranian warship off Sri Lanka's coast, three U.S. officials told Reuters on Wednesday. One of the officials, who was speaking on condition of anonymity, said it was carried out by a U.S. military submarine. Earlier, Sri Lankan authorities said they had rescued 32 people who were on board the ship and recovered several bodies from the sea. Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath told parliament that the ship, identified as IRIS Dena, had sunk. Sources in Sri Lanka's navy and defence ministry had earlier said the vessel had been attacked by a submarine off Sri Lanka's Indian Ocean coast. The spokesman said 32 people injured in the incident had been rescued by the Sri Lankan navy and were under treatment at a state-run hospital in the southern port city of Galle. At least 101 people aboard the ship are said to be missing. The navy received a distress call from an Iranian ship and informed the Sri Lankan air force and both launched a search and rescue operation, the spokesman said. Sri Lankan forces were focused on saving lives on the Iranian ship and will investigate the cause of the incident later, he said. "We are hopeful we can rescue more people and will continue (operations) until we are sure," he said.