WATCH: US Sinks Key Iranian Warship In Jaw-Dropping Footage

A U.S. Navy submarine torpedoed and sank a prized Iranian warship during Operation Epic Fury, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said Wednesday, calling it the first time an American torpedo has sent an enemy ship to the bottom since World War II.

Hegseth, appearing alongside Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine at the Pentagon, said the strike hit an Iranian vessel that believed it was untouchable.

“An American submarine sunk an Iranian warship that thought it was safe in international waters,” Hegseth said. “Instead, it was sunk by a torpedo. Quiet death. The first sinking of an enemy ship by a torpedo since World War Two. Like in that war, back when we were still the War Department. We are fighting to win.”

Caine said the warship was taken out in a Navy “fast attack” using a single Mark 48 torpedo.

An Iranian vessel was “effectively neutralized,” he said, with the torpedo producing “immediate effect, sending the warship to the bottom of the sea.”

Hegseth identified the ship as the Soleimani, described as a prized Iranian warship named for Qasem Soleimani, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander killed by a U.S. drone strike in January 2020.

“The Iranian Navy rests at the bottom of the Persian Gulf. Combat ineffective, decimated, destroyed, defeated. Pick your adjective,” Hegseth said. “In fact, last night we sunk their prize ship, the Soleimani. Looks like POTUS got him twice. Their navy, not a factor. Pick your adjective. It is no more.”

The Pentagon’s dramatic framing came with video and imagery that officials said captured the scope of the campaign, as the U.S. and Israel continue hammering Iranian military infrastructure, missile sites and regime command nodes.

🚨 BREAKING: Department of War drops BAD*SS footage of a US submarine violently sinking an Iranian warship in the Indian Ocean via torpedo

The first sinking of an enemy ship by a torpedo since World War 2 🔥🇺🇸 https://t.co/eHTHJt9Z6Y pic.twitter.com/WR0Xq5VJQa

— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) March 4, 2026

Hegseth said the operation is also rapidly shifting the balance of power in the air. He told reporters the U.S. and Israel are on track to gain “complete control” over Iranian airspace after Tehran’s missile capabilities were drastically reduced in four days of fighting.

“More bombers and more fighters are arriving just today and now, with complete control of the skies, we will be using 500 pound, one thousand pound and 2,000 pound laser-guided precision gravity bombs, of which we have a nearly unlimited stockpile,” he said.

The briefing came as the human cost of the conflict rises. The war has killed more than 1,000 people in Iran and dozens in Lebanon, according to estimates cited by U.S. officials, and the U.S. has confirmed American fatalities. Six U.S. service members were killed in a drone strike in Kuwait, officials said.

The fighting has also thrown the region into chaos for civilians, stranding thousands of travelers across the Middle East as embassies restrict services and governments issue emergency warnings.

Caine said the U.S. military is working to assist Americans stranded in the region after the State Department urged citizens to leave more than a dozen countries due to escalating dangers.

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