"Quiet Death"

Pete Hegseth: Murderer or War Criminal?

Iran war reaches the Indian Ocean – US destroys Iranian frigate off Sri Lankan coast

It is not every day that a U.S. submarine sinks an enemy warship in international waters, yet that is exactly what happened in the Indian Ocean near Sri Lanka this week. The Iranian frigate IRIS Dena was on its way home from naval exercises hosted by India when it was struck by a torpedo. The ship was unarmed, and by the time rescue crews arrived, there was no sign of the vessel. Sri Lankin Navy reported seeing just patches of oil and sailors floating in the water. 87 lives were lost.

Healthcare workers carry the bodies of Iranian sailors who died in a US torpedo attack on their frigate off Sri Lanka's southern coast, at the mortuary of the Karapitiya hospital in Galle, on March 4.

The strike prompted a furious response from Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, who described the attack in stark terms during an interview. He was asked:

Reporter: The world saw your battleship sunk in the Indian Ocean. Dozens of Iranian sailors died. Your response was, ‘Mark my words, the US will come to bitterly regret the precedent it has set.’ So, what is Iran going to do? And at this point, given the state of your military right now, what can you do?

Araghchi: Well, first of all, that was a training Navy, Iranian ship, which was invited by the Indian Navy to take part in an exercise. And they went there as their guests, the Indians, guests, and they did participate in that exercise, and they were in their way back home and the ship was unarmed. So, attacking an unarmed ship full of training officers and sailors is a war crime, I have to say.

Araghchi called the sinking a war crime, yet for Pete Hegseth, speaking publicly, the attack became a stark, chilling, and frankly surreal soliloquy:

An American submarine sunk an Iranian warship that thought it was safe in international waters. Instead, it was sunk by a torpedo. Quiet death.

This is how our self-named, slicked-back Secretary of War spins 87 lives lost: quiet death.

Legal experts have noted that sinking a ship in international waters, particularly one reportedly unarmed and returning from a training exercise, could constitute a war crime under international law. Hegseth’s casual framing of the deaths highlights the reckless and deeply troubling mentality guiding the Trump regime’s military decisions.

Oil prices are climbing, and the geopolitical stakes are soaring. Russia, which does not rely on the Strait of Hormuz, stands to profit from chaos it had no hand in creating. I know it is hard to believe, but once again, Donald did something that benefits Putin. Meanwhile, Ukraine faces another blow: rising energy costs and distracted global attention weaken the support it depends on.

Thousands of American citizens remain stranded across the Middle East because Donald failed to plan for their evacuation. Frankly, I am not convinced any of our allies should be involved in this war beyond defensive measures, and it is dizzying to imagine how their positions might shift as the conflict continues to escalate.

The situation remains extraordinarily volatile, with military operations spreading across multiple countries and waterways, threatening to redraw the balance of power far beyond the Middle East.

Wasted lives and no accountability.