Tehran, March 11 -- Esmaeil Baqaei, the Spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Iran, on Tuesday paid tributes to the sailors of IRIS Dena who were killed after the frigate was torpedoed and sunk by a US submarine approximately 40 nautical miles off the coast of Galle, Sri Lanka.

He called the action by the United States a "war crime" and in violation of international laws-- further underlining that the Iranian people would not forget it.

In a post on X, Baqaei said, "We honor the fallen sailors of the #Dena frigate, martyred on 4 March far from their homeland. The Dena had been officially invited by the Indian Navy to participate in a joint naval exercise and a port visit. In a brutal act amounting to a war crime, the United...