Iranian warship sunk by the US was sailing home after taking part in an exhibition hosted by India

GALLE, Sri Lanka (AP) — An Iranian warship that was sunk by a U.S. submarine near Sri Lanka had participated in naval exercises hosted by India before heading out into international waters in the Indian Ocean on its way home, New Delhi said.

The sinking underscored the scope of the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran and its spread in the Middle East and beyond. It also ignited a debate in India about maritime security in the Indian Ocean — a region where New Delhi maintains a significant naval presence.

On Wednesday, Sri Lanka's navy recovered 87 bodies and rescued 32 Iranian sailors from the IRIS Dena, which sank in international waters off the coast of the island nation — a rare instance of a submarine torpedoing a ship since World War II.

Sri Lanka’s navy said it had responded to a distress signal from the IRIS Dena, but by the time it reached the location, there was no sign of the ship, just patches of oil and sailors floating in the water. The rescued mariners were taken to a hospital in the town of Galle, on Sri Lanka’s southern coast.

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the sinking illustrates the U.S.-Israeli military operation against Iran is stretching beyond its borders and described the IRIS Dena as a “prize ship.” U.S. President Donald Trump has said one of the key objectives of the war is to wipe out Iran’s navy.

A video released by the U.S. Department of Defense on X showed the moment of the torpedo attack. The Iranian ship appears to be hit by an underwater explosion that causes it to break apart, as a large plume of water rises up in the air.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi accused the U.S. Navy of committing an “an atrocity at sea” in sinking the frigate and said on social media on Thursday that the United States “will come to bitterly regret” the attack.

Araghchi said the IRIS Dena had been carrying “almost 130” crew.

India’s navy and defense ministry said the Iranian warship had participated in the International Fleet Review and the multilateral naval exercise MILAN 2026, organized by the Indian navy in the port of Visakhapatnam from Feb. 15 to Feb. 25. The ministry said 74 countries had joined the events.

The Iranian warship was seen sailing at sea during the exercises in a Feb. 17 post on X by the Indian navy. Another image showed several of its crew members posing on deck with the Iranian flag in the background.

Araghchi stressed that the frigate had been “a guest" of India's navy. The Indian government has not yet publicly commented on the incident.

In Sri Lanka, the country's media minister and government spokesman, Nalinda Jayatissa, told parliament on Thursday that another Iranian ship has arrived in its waters.

Jayatissa did not provide further details about the ship or the number of people on board. He said the government was trying to "minimize the loss of lives and safeguard regional peace” but did not elaborate.

India has long viewed the Indian Ocean as central to its security, with its navy regularly conducting patrols and multinational exercises to safeguard key sea lanes used for global trade and energy shipments. It has also traditionally sought to maintain a careful diplomatic balance in tensions between the U.S. and Iran while emphasizing on diplomacy and talks.

Indian opposition leaders, however, on Thursday questioned the government’s lack of response to the incident, saying the sinking of the warship so close to India’s maritime neighborhood warranted an official statement.

The opposition Indian National Congress party slammed what it called “silence” from Prime Minister Narendra Modi 's government.

“The conflict has reached our backyard, with an Iranian warship sunk in the Indian Ocean. Yet the Prime Minister has said nothing,” opposition leader Rahul Gandhi wrote in a post on X.

Kanwal Sibal, a former diplomat who served as India’s foreign secretary from 2002 to 2003, wrote on X that India was “far from politically or militarily responsible for the U.S. attack,” but its “responsibility is at a moral and human plane.”

“The U.S. has ignored India’s sensitivities," Sibal said. "The ship was in these waters because of India’s invitation.”

Saaliq reported from New Delhi. Associated Press journalist Bharatha Mallawarachi in Colombo, Sri Lanka, contributed to this report.

Healthcare workers unload from a vehicle, the bodies of Iranian sailors who died when their IRIS Dena warship sank outside Sri Lanka's territorial waters, in Galle, Sri Lanka, Wednesday, March 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)

Nurses exit the National Hospital, where the sailors rescued from IRIS Dena warship by Sri Lanka's navy are treated in Galle, Sri Lanka, Thursday, March 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)

Motorcycle mounted policemen patrol at the National Hospital where rescued Iranian sailors from the IRIS Dena warship by the Sri Lankan Navy are receiving treatment, in Galle, Sri Lanka, Thursday, March 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)

Iranian warship IRIS Dena is seen in the Bay of Bengal during International Fleet Review held at Visakhapatnam, India, Feb. 18, 2026. (AP Photo)

Healthcare workers unload from a vehicle, the bodies of Iranian sailors who died when their IRIS Dena warship sank outside Sri Lanka's territorial waters, in Galle, Sri Lanka, Wednesday, March 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The United States and its allies in the Middle East are seeking Ukraine’s expertise in countering Iran’s Shahed drones, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Various countries, including the United States, have approached Ukraine for help in defending against the Iranian drones, Zelenskyy said late Wednesday. He said he has spoken in recent days with the leaders of the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, Jordan and Kuwait about possible cooperation.

Russia has fired tens of thousands of Shaheds at Ukraine since it invaded its neighbor just over four years ago, launching a swarm of more than 800 drones and decoys in its biggest nighttime barrage. Iran has responded to joint U.S.-Israeli strikes by launching the same type of drones at countries in the Middle East.

Ukrainian assistance in countering Iranian drones will be provided only if it does not weaken Ukraine’s own defenses, and if it adds leverage to Kyiv’s diplomatic efforts to stop the Russian invasion, according to the Ukrainian leader.

“We help to defend from war those who help us, Ukraine, bring a just end to the war” with Russia, Zelenskyy said.

Ukraine has pioneered the development of cut-price drone killers that cost as little as $1,000, rewriting the air defense rule book and making other countries take notice.

European countries got a wake-up call last September on the changed nature of air defense when Poland scrambled multimillion-dollar military assets, including F-35 and F-16 fighter jets and Black Hawk helicopters, in response to airspace violations by cheap drones.

Ukrainian manufacturers have developed low-cost interceptor drones specifically designed to hunt and destroy Shaheds, and its rapidly expanding drone industry is producing excess capacity.

Zelenskyy announced earlier this year that Ukraine would begin exporting the battle-tested systems.

The European Union’s top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, said before chairing a meeting of EU and Gulf foreign ministers via video link Thursday that the talks would look at how Ukraine’s experience can help countries counter Iranian drones.

The Iran war, now in its sixth day, has drawn international attention away from Europe’s biggest conflict since World War II, and forced the postponement of a new round of U.S-brokered talks between Russia and Ukraine planned for this week, Zelenskyy said.

Western governments and analysts say the Russia-Ukraine war has killed hundreds of thousands of people, while there is no sign that yearlong U.S.-led peace efforts will stop the fighting any time soon.

“Right now, because of the situation around Iran, there are not yet the necessary signals for a trilateral meeting,” Zelenskyy said. “But as soon as the security situation and the overall political context allow us to resume that trilateral diplomatic work, it will be done.”

Oleksandr Merezhko, the head of Ukraine’s parliamentary foreign affairs committee, said Russian President Vladimir Putin is trying to drag out the negotiations so that he can press on with Russia’s invasion while escaping further U.S. sanctions.

He urged the U.S. administration to look at the Russia-Ukraine war and the war in the Middle East as linked.

“In reality, Russia and Iran are close allies that act in concert — Iran supplies weapons and Russia helps Iran develop its defense industry. These are interconnected conflicts,” Merezhko told The Associated Press.

Ukraine’s army has recently pushed back Russian forces at some points along the roughly 1,250-kilometer (750-mile) front line, according to the Institute for the Study of War.

Localized Ukrainian counterattacks liberated more territory than Ukrainian forces lost in the last two weeks of February, the Washington-based think tank said this week, estimating the recovered land at about 257 square kilometers (100 square miles) since Jan. 1.

Associated Press writer Lorne Cook in Brussels contributed to this report.

Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

A Ukrainian soldier of the 48th separate brigade launches a reconnaissance drone in Kharkiv region, Ukraine, Wednesday, March 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrii Marienko)

A Ukrainian soldier of the 48th separate brigade launches a reconnaissance drone in Kharkiv region, Ukraine, Wednesday, March 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrii Marienko)