US President Donald Trump mocked the sinking of the unarmed Iranian frigate IRIS Dina in the Indian Ocean after it was being torpedoed by the US submarine last week. 87 Iranian sailors lost their lives while 32 were rescued following an urgent rescue operation conducted by Sri Lankan Navy.
President Donald Trump recounted a conversation with a US military official and said he had asked why the ships were sunk and not captured. He expressed these views speaking during the Republican Members Issues Conference in Florida on Monday and claimed the US military sank 46 top-of-the-line Iranian naval ships over three and a half days.
“Iran’s drone and missile capability is being utterly demolished. The Navy is gone. It’s all lying at the bottom of the ocean. 46 ships, can you believe it? In fact I got a little upset with our people. When I said, ‘What quality of ship?’. They said, ‘Excellent, Sir. ‘Top-of-the-line’. I said, ‘Why didn’t we just capture the ships?’ We could use it. Why did we sink them?’,” Trump said.
“He said, ‘It’s more fun to sink them’,” the US President told Republican lawmakers, evoking laughter.
“They like sinking them better. They say it’s safer to sink them. I guess it’s probably true,” he added.
He said the US “took a little excursion” to the Middle East “to get rid of some evil”. And I think you’ll see it’s going to be a short-term excursion,” he said.
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Hundreds of men murdered on an unarmed ship thousands of miles from
Iran.Trump: “I said, ‘Why don’t we just capture the ship? He said, ‘It’s more fun to sink them.”
These are war crimes and they laugh like it’s a computer game.
pic.twitter.com/K2jzDf1kEX— Daniel Lambert (@dlLambo) March 10, 2026
Trump said the US military “will not relent until the enemy is totally and decisively defeated”.
Later on, Trump again threatened Iran of blocking the oil shipments from the Middle East through the Strait of Hormuz.
“If Iran does anything that stops the flow of oil within the Strait of Hormuz, they will be hit by the United States of America TWENTY TIMES HARDER than they have been hit thus far,” he posted on social media.
“Additionally, we will take out easily destroyable targets that will make it virtually impossible for Iran to ever be built back, as a Nation, again – Death, Fire, and Fury will reign upon them But I hope, and pray, that it does not happen! This is a gift from the United States of America to China, and all of those Nations that heavily use the Hormuz Strait. Hopefully, it is a gesture that will be greatly appreciated,” he said.
