Big Ships Are Losing Significance in the Drone Dominated Wars, Like Tanks Do: Iran Calls Torpedoing of Iranian Big Ship by U.S. an ‘Atrocity’

 

 

Does Iran use drone boats to sink tankers?

 

Yes, Iran has used exploding uncrewed surface vessels (drone boats) to attack and sink oil tankers.

 

Iran has a well-developed program for uncrewed surface vessels (USVs), which function as "kamikaze" or exploding drone boats. These low-cost weapons have proven effective in damaging and destroying expensive commercial vessels, adding to the precarious security situation in strategic waters like the Strait of Hormuz and the Gulf of Oman.

 

Key details regarding these attacks:

 

    Confirmed Attacks: One notable incident involved the Marshall Islands-flagged oil tanker MKD VYOM, which was struck by an Iranian drone boat in the Gulf of Oman in early March 2026. This attack caused a fire and explosion, resulting in the death of one crew member.

 

    Tactics: The drone boats are often designed to be inconspicuous, sometimes disguised as fishing vessels, to avoid detection before striking their targets.

 

    Regional Use: Iran and its proxy groups, such as the Houthi rebels in Yemen, have utilized this technology in the Middle East conflict, sinking multiple vessels and disrupting global shipping lanes.

    Impact: Maritime defense experts note that these drones are difficult for most merchant ships to defend against, making them a potent asymmetric threat.

“Iran’s foreign minister accused the United States of committing an “atrocity at sea,” after a U.S. Navy submarine attacked an Iranian frigate in the Indian Ocean.

 

Iran’s foreign minister accused the United States of committing an “atrocity at sea” on Thursday, a day after an American submarine torpedoed an Iranian frigate off the southern coast of Sri Lanka.

 

The warship, the IRIS Dena, had recently participated in a peacetime naval exercise that India hosted from Feb. 14 to 25. It was sailing outside Sri Lanka’s territorial waters when it sent a distress signal at 5:08 a.m. local time, the Sri Lankan foreign minister, Vijitha Herath, told the country’s parliament. Sri Lanka responded by sending naval ships and its air force to the damaged vessel.

 

As of Thursday, Sri Lankan security forces said the bodies of 84 sailors who died in the attack had been recovered, with the Sri Lankan Navy still searching for 64 others. The 32 rescued sailors have been taken to Sri Lanka’s Galle National Hospital.

 

Iran’s navy has been under heavy fire since Saturday, with its warships at times appearing poorly defended. Satellite imagery analyzed by the Times showed multiple vessels ablaze in port for more than a day, with few visible efforts to move or salvage them.

 

On Wednesday, Pete Hegseth, the U.S. defense secretary, touted the attack as an example of American military might.

 

“America is winning, decisively, devastatingly and without mercy,” Mr. Hegseth said at a Pentagon briefing where he announced the sinking. He said that the Iranian ship “thought it was safe in international waters.”

 

“Instead, it was sunk by a torpedo,” he said.

 

In a social media post on Thursday, Abbas Araghchi, Iran’s foreign minister, condemned the attack, saying that the ship had been a “guest of India’s Navy.”

 

“The U.S. will come to bitterly regret precedent it has set,” Mr. Araghchi said.

 

The incident has created a challenge for India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, who has yet to publicly comment on the strike. Mr. Modi is already facing criticism that his government has taken an overly timid stance on the U.S. and Israel’s attack of Iran, a key partner, amid his efforts to smooth tariff frictions with Washington.

 

“The conflict has reached our backyard, with an Iranian warship sunk in the Indian Ocean. Yet the prime minister has said nothing,” Rahul Gandhi, an opposition politician, wrote on social media.

 

In his own social media post, Mallikarjun Kharge, the president of the Indian National Congress, the primary opposition party, accused Mr. Modi of betraying India’s strategic and national interests.

 

A second Iranian ship remains floating off Sri Lanka’s coast, a senior official told the country’s Parliament on Thursday. Cabinet spokesman Nalinda Jayatissa said the country’s authorities would intervene to “reduce loss of lives and resolve the problem.”” [1]

 

 So the future belongs to unmanned drone boats, working in international waters.

 

1. Iran Calls Torpedoing of Ship by U.S. an ‘Atrocity’. Kim, Max.  New York Times (Online) New York Times Company. Mar 5, 2026.