US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth on Wednesday confirmed that a US submarine fired a torpedo and has sunk Iranian Navy vessel IRIS Dena west of Sri Lanka.In a way the Iran and US -Israel conflict has reached close to Indian coast. The strike today at sea was almost 4000 kms away from Iran , significantly expanding the radius of war.Already , fearing Iranian missile strikes, several US warships has moved eastward towards India. These ships are in international waters.The Iranian ship , hit today, was returning after participating in the international fleet review and exercise Milan hosted by India at Vishakapatnam.The Iranian ship went down with almost 140 sailors on board missing. The Sri Lankan Navy , acting on a distress call rescued 32 of the Iranian sailors.Hegseth confirmed the act by the US forces saying the ship was hit in the Indian Ocean, saying “an Iranian warship that thought it was safe in international waters…Instead it was sunk by a torpedo”.Hegseth did not name the Iranian ship that was attacked.But earlier the Sri Lankan navy reported the distress call from IRIS Dena when it was some 40 kms west of Galle ,located on the south-western part of the Island country.On February 16, the Iranian had sailed into the port of Visakhapatnam where Seventy-four nations participated. Warships from Australia, Japan, South Korea, Russia, and dozens of others were anchored alongside the now sunk Iranian vessel Iran’s Navy Commander Rear Admiral Shahram Irani held talks with India’s Chief of Naval Staff on strengthening maritime security cooperation. The theme was “United through Oceans.”Notably tbe US Navy was supposed to send the guided-missile destroyer USS Pinckney to the exercise Milan, how we the ship was diverted to Singapore on Feb 15. US did not field it’s warship in Milan which had ships from Russia and Iran.The exercise ended February 25. Three days later, on February 28, the United States and Israel launched Operation Epic Fury.The IRIS Dena was transiting home. This morning at 5:08 a.m. local time, the IRIS Dena issued a distress call.Sri Lanka’s Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath informed parliament that two navy vessels and an aircraft were deployed. Thirty crew members were rescued and admitted to Karapitiya Hospital in Galle. The Straits Times reported 32 critically wounded survivors. Reuters, reported 101 missing and 78 wounded.The Sri Lankan Navy spokesman said the operation was conducted in line with the International Convention on Maritime Search and Rescue.