The United States carried out a strike that sank an Iranian warship off Sri Lanka’s coast in an incident that has triggered a search and rescue operation in the Indian Ocean, US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth confirmed on Wednesday.
Hegseth said a torpedo fired from a US submarine sank the vessel.
Sri Lanka’s foreign minister, Vijitha Herath, told parliament the vessel had been identified as the Iranian warship IRIS Dena.
Sri Lankan authorities said they had rescued 32 people from the ship and recovered several bodies from the sea.
Sources in Sri Lanka’s navy and defense ministry said the warship had been attacked by a submarine and that at least 101 people were missing after the incident off the island’s southern coast.
However, a Sri Lankan navy spokesperson rejected reports that 101 people were missing and said the cause of the sinking had not yet been established.
The spokesperson said 32 injured survivors had been taken to a state-run hospital in the southern port city of Galle after being rescued by the navy.
Sri Lanka’s navy said it received a distress call from the Iranian vessel and launched a joint search and rescue operation with the air force. The 180-crew frigate issued a distress call at dawn.
Authorities said the immediate priority was rescuing survivors, with the cause of the incident to be investigated later.
Sri Lankan forces said they had not observed any other ships or aircraft in the area at the time of the incident.
“We are hopeful we can rescue more people and will continue operations until we are sure,” the navy spokesperson said.
York Regional Police said officers responded shortly after 3 a.m. on March 1 to reports of gunfire at a commercial plaza north of Toronto, where investigators found damage consistent with multiple rounds fired at a business. The building was unoccupied at the time and no injuries were reported.
Surveillance footage shows a suspect dressed in dark clothing exiting a dark-colored sport utility vehicle before fleeing the scene, police said.
The targeted business, Saliwan Boxing, is owned by Salar Gholami, an Iranian-Canadian political activist and Canadian cruiserweight boxing champion who has organized demonstrations against the Islamic Republic across the Greater Toronto Area in recent months.
The shooting came hours after supporters gathered at the gym and elsewhere in Toronto following US and Israeli military strikes that killed Iran’s Supreme Leader, events that drew large crowds waving Iran’s Lion and Sun flag.
“Seventeen bullets in the middle of Toronto,” Gholami told Iran International. “This is not just about the Iranian community anymore. It’s about Canadians.”
Gholami said the gym is used by families, teenagers and children and could have been occupied when the shots were fired.
“Our gym is just a regular gym. Girls, teenagers, kids,” he said. “The shooting at the gym... is so dangerous.”
He said he believes the attack may have been intended as a warning linked to his activism, though police said no motive has been confirmed.
York Regional Police acknowledged concerns within the community that the incident could be connected to broader geopolitical tensions in the Middle East.
Investigators said they are working with policing and intelligence partners and reviewing all available evidence, including the possibility of politically motivated or transnational elements.
Canadian intelligence officials have previously warned that Iranian state actors and their proxies have targeted dissidents abroad, including individuals living in Canada. The Canadian Security Intelligence Service has said it has disrupted potentially lethal threats linked to foreign interference operations in past cases.
Former Canadian Justice minister Irwin Cotler, for example, was previously the subject of an alleged Iranian plot to kill him on Canadian soil.
Gholami said he has remained in contact with police following the shooting but expressed concern about security arrangements, saying he was told additional protection would need to be arranged privately.
“We came here for freedom,” he said. “Canada must protect its citizens. I’m Canadian too.”
Despite the attack, he said he intends to continue organizing demonstrations.
“I will not give up,” Gholami said. “They may be able to take my life, but they cannot take our honor.”
Iran International contacted Public Safety Canada to ask whether additional protections are being considered for Iranian-Canadian activists amid concerns about transnational repression. The department did not respond before publication.
