The sinking of an Iranian warship Tuesday by a U.S. submarine thousands of miles from the war zone in international waters raises questions about whether the attack was legal under the rules of war.

The torpedo attack off the coast of Sri Lanka was the first such sinking by the US Navy since World War II, Defense Secretary Hegseth said.

The IRIS Dena was headed back to Iran from Visakhapatnam, India, where it participated in a multination naval exercise.

Another Iranian vessel in Lanka’s exclusive economic zone Chief Government Whip and Health and Mass Media Minister Dr Nalinda Jayatissa yesterday told Parliament that the government was acting in accordance with international law to ensure peace and security following the maritime incident off the southern coast.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abas Araghchi accused the United States of committing an atrocity by sinking an Iranian navy ship off Sri Lanka and warned it would "bitterly regret" the precedent set.

IRIS Dena sinking highlights: Iran has condemned the submarine attack by US as an ‘atrocity at sea’. The attack has also raised fears of the US-Iran war growing beyond the Middle East.

A former Royal Navy officer will face a court martial following the sinking of a New Zealand ship she was commanding.

He said: “Even at the time, the disaster nationally was yet another tragedy of WWI, which was buried in the terrible things happening in the trenches. This happened three years after the Titanic. The Titanic took two hours and 20 minutes to sink, so a lot more drama happened on board than in the 20 minutes it took for Luistiana to sink.