The Five Craziest Things Trump’s New Pick for DHS Secretary Has 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.