The Most Chilling Detail in the U.S. Attack on an Iranian Naval Ship

The U.S. Navy’s attack on an Iranian frigate, the IRIS Dena, on Wednesday was the first time an American submarine has sunk an enemy ship since World War II. But the Dena may not have been armed because it was returning from an international exercise in the Indian Ocean, and the U.S. Navy likely knew it because it was taking part in the same exercise. 

Both the United States and Iran were taking part in the MILAN 2026 exercise, organized by the Indian Navy, on February 15–26, with the U.S. sending a maritime patrol aircraft and Iran sending the Dena. Iranian sailors from the ship paraded on land before India’s president.

The exercise in question required ships not to carry any ammunition. Normally, the Dena carries various missiles and guns, including anti-ship missiles. Because the U.S. also took part, it would have been aware that the Dena was unarmed. Former Indian Foreign Minister Kanwal Sibal accused the attack of being “premeditated as the US was aware of the Iranian ship’s presence in the exercise.” 

“The US has ignored India’s sensitivities as the ship was in these waters because of India’s invitation,” Sibal said in a post on X. The Iranian ambassador to India, Mohammad Fathali, condemned the attack and said the ship was unarmed. 

“We will respond to this assassination very strongly. This ship was unarmed and in a regular maneuver at sea. I think that the United States and the Zionist regime want to disturb and destroy all the international law and international norms,” Fathali said. 

At least 87 sailors were killed in the torpedo attack in international waters in the Indian Ocean, and the Sri Lankan navy responded to the Dena’s distress call and rescued 32 survivors, but 61 members of the crew are still missing. The U.S. didn’t respond to the call, and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth crowed about the attack to reporters on Wednesday. 

“An American submarine sunk an Iranian warship that thought it was safe in international waters. Instead, it was sunk by a torpedo,” Hegseth said, calling it a “quiet death.” As a result of the attack, an Iranian supply tanker that was also near Sri Lanka, the IRIS Bushehr, has taken refuge in the island country.  

The sinking of the Dena seems to be part of Hegseth’s new policy of ignoring “stupid rules of engagement” and “punching them while they’re down,” and it raises questions of what the Trump administration would say if a country like Iran attacked an American ship it knew was unarmed. 

The House voted 219–212 against a war powers resolution Thursday, refusing to place limits on President Trump’s powers as he continues his war on Iran alongside Israel. Four Democratic representatives voted with Republicans to kill the measure.

The resolution, co-sponsored by GOP Representative Thomas Massie and Democrat Ro Khanna, would immediately block any U.S. military action without congressional approval under the 1973 War Powers Resolution. While it faced a massive uphill battle to become a law, it was an opportunity for representatives to state plainly whether they support this war.

On Wednesday, the Senate killed a similar measure by a vote of 47–53 after Senator John Fetterman switched sides to vote with Republicans.

Here is every Democrat in Congress who voted not to rein in Trump:

1. Senator John Fetterman (Pennsylvania)
2. Representative Henry Cuellar (Texas)
3. Representative Greg Landsman (Ohio)
4. Representative Jared Golden (Maine)
5. Representative Juan Vargas (California)

Just two Republicans, Representatives Thomas Massie (the resolution’s co-sponsor) and Warren Davidson, chose to support the resolution, splitting from Trump and the party.

Kristi Noem appeared not to know she’d been fired Thursday afternoon as she spoke before an audience of law enforcement officials.

As Donald Trump announced Noem’s sudden ouster on social media, the Homeland Security secretary was in the midst of delivering the keynote address at the Major Cities Conference in Nashville, Tennessee. Law enforcement officials asked questions and offered praise to Noem—but not one asked about her dramatic title change.

At one point, Noem teased Trump’s plan to unveil his “Shield of the Americas” policy on Saturday, where he would be joined by other cabinet secretaries to discuss his plan to combat cartels and drug trafficking. It was unclear whether she was aware that Trump had reassigned her as the program’s “special envoy.”

Fox’s White House correspondent Jacqui Heinrich reported on X that Trump had spoken to Noem shortly before posting the announcement to Truth Social.

Still, Noem repeatedly spoke about her upcoming work as DHS secretary as if her schedule had not just been cleared. She promised to meet with New York state sheriffs “real soon” and said she’d “continue to talk” to governors and state legislators about coordinating with federal immigration enforcement. While Noem may be in office until the end of March, her repeated commitments sounded surreal given that she’d just been sacked.

“I hope you have fun, I’m sorry I can’t stick around,” she said at the end of her speech, pausing for a brief photo op and then rushing offstage.

Shortly after she disembarked the stage, Noem released a statement thanking Trump for her new made-up title. “The Western Hemisphere is absolutely critical for U.S. security. In this new role, I will be able to build on the partnerships and national security expertise, I forged over the last 13 months as Secretary of Homeland Security,” she wrote on X.

Noem’s stint as head of DHS truly fell apart this week after she crumbled during back-to-back hearings before the Senate and House Judiciary Committees. In addition to repeatedly lying under oath, Noem couldn’t explain away a $220 million border security ad campaign starring herself—that Trump now claims he did not approve.

Reports were already circulating earlier Thursday that Trump had begun reaching out to Republicans in search of a possible replacement for Noem—and Mullin’s name popped up as a top contender.

This story has been updated.

Conservative MAGA ideologue Matt Schlapp has attempted to justify the killing of more than 100 young girls at an elementary school in southern Iran, by claiming they were saved from religious extremism. 

On Piers Morgan Uncensored, Schlapp was part of a panel discussion about the war in Iran and the bombing of the girls’ school that killed an estimated 175 people (nearly all young children). Journalist Peter Beinart argued to host Morgan that the United States and Israel were to blame even if the school was somehow hit by an Iranian missile.

“We know that if the U.S. and Israel had not attacked a country that poses no serious threat to them—Israel has hundreds of nuclear weapons, America has thousands—that those girls would be alive,” Beinart said. Schlapp immediately jumped in. 

“They’d be alive in a burqa,” Schlapp said, adding “this is … a barbaric society,” before Morgan cut in and asked him to “hang on.”

Later, Schlapp attempted to defend his point. 

“It’s hypocritical to say that these attacks harmed women and children when those women and children, the young girls that you reference, would be … live a life in a barbaric, unequal society behind a burqa, with no ability to make career choices,” Schlapp said, outraging left-wing commentator Cenk Uygur.

“So just kill them?” Uygur said.

“No, that’s not what I’m saying either,” said Schlapp.

“That is what you said,” Uygur replied, before Schlapp went on to defend President Donald Trump’s decision to bomb Iran.

Schlapp is head of the influential American Conservative Union, which organizes the well-known Conservative Political Action Conference with top Republican officials every year. But despite his status (and allegations of sexual misconduct), Schlapp is peddling anti-Muslim bigotry and doesn’t even have his facts right. 

While women in Iran still have to deal with patriarchal laws under a theocratic government that human rights groups have criticized, Iran isn’t such a backwater that it’s preferable for women and young girls to be dead. Women in the country have high rates of education, making up the majority of university graduates. Burqas are mostly worn in Afghanistan and are not even common in Iran, although conservative religious women in the country sometimes opt for the chador, a loose garment that leaves the face and hands open. 

But Schlapp is repeating an unfortunately common trope in the U.S., particularly among conservatives: Muslim and Arab lives are cheap, especially when we are at war with them. To these bigots, Muslim societies are backward and if the U.S. government inflicts something bad on them, it’s their society’s fault. Schlapp and the rest of the people ought to realize that women and girls, as well as every other Iranian civilian, deserve to live full lives instead of being killed in a reckless war.  

Kristi Noem has officially been ousted as homeland security secretary after her disastrous display defending her monthslong mismanagement of the agency overseeing Donald Trump’s horrific deportation scheme.

Trump announced Thursday that Oklahoma Senator Markwayne Mullin would replace Noem beginning at the end of March. Not only does Trump not have the authority to appoint Mullin as permanent secretary, but the MAGA Republican isn’t even eligible to serve as acting secretary according to laws that govern Cabinet-level vacancies.

The president congratulated Noem on her “numerous and spectacular results (especially on the Border!)” and declared that she would be reassigned as special envoy for “the Shield of the Americas,” a made-up international security initiative that has yet to be announced.

Noem’s stint as head of DHS truly fell apart this week after she crumbled during back-to-back hearings before the Senate and House Judiciary Committees. In addition to repeatedly lying under oath, Noem couldn’t explain away a $220 million border security ad campaign starring herself—that Trump now claims he did not approve.

The so-called “ICE Barbie” flailed when asked about her semi-public affair with DHS adviser Corey Lewandowski, paying millions to a company that had only existed for a week, and lying that a U.S. citizen shot by federal agents was a domestic terrorist. All in all, it was a calamitous pair of appearances—and they cost her Cabinet position.

“The Shield of the Americas” is a term used by the Trump administration to describe its foreign policy for the Western hemisphere. The administration is slated to host the Shield of the Americas summit with select Latin American leaders in Miami on Friday, and will formally announce the initiative the following day.

Reports were already circulating earlier Thursday that Trump had begun reaching out to Republicans in search of a possible replacement for Noem—and Mullin’s name popped up as a top contender.

Mullin has repeatedly gotten into the news this week for offering flimsy defenses of Trump’s illegal military campaign in Iran. Mullin was called out for referring to the U.S. aerial bombings as a “war,” even though they were not authorized by Congress (he then said that was “a misspoke”). He was also slammed for waxing poetic about the “smell” and “taste” of war, even though he has never served in the military.

Shortly after delivering an awkward keynote to the Major Cities Conference in Nashville, Tennessee, Noem released a statement thanking Trump for her new made-up title. “The Western Hemisphere is absolutely critical for U.S. security. In this new role, I will be able to build on the partnerships and national security expertise, I forged over the last 13 months as Secretary of Homeland Security,” she wrote on X.

This story has been updated.