On the sixth day of the war between the United States and Israel and Iran, the conflict is spreading beyond the Middle East to the wider world. A U.S. submarine torpedoed an Iranian warship in waters off Sri Lanka, and the NATO air defense network intercepted an Iranian ballistic missile that was headed toward Turkey. In the Strait of Hormuz, a Malta-flagged vessel came under a missile attack. This appears to align with the strategy of Iran to broaden fronts with the United States and Israel across the globe and to prolong the war.

On the 5th (local time), a torpedo fired by a U.S. submarine sank the Iranian Navy frigate ‘IRIS Dena’ off the southern coast of Sri Lanka. The attack killed at least 87 of the 130 crew members, and 32 were rescued.

U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said that day, “A U.S. submarine sank an Iranian warship that thought it was safe on the high seas” and “This is the first case since World War II of an enemy vessel being sunk by a torpedo.” The Ministry of National Defense released a black-and-white video showing a U.S. torpedo hitting the frigate and seawater erupting skyward.

The Sri Lankan authorities rescued 32 people and recovered 87 bodies at sea. Sri Lanka Navy spokesman Budika Sampas said that when rescue boats reached the scene, the frigate had already sunk, leaving only an oil slick. The Iranian frigate was outside the territorial waters of Sri Lanka but within the exclusive economic zone, about 44 nautical miles (81㎞) off the coast of Galle. IRIS Dena had been returning to port after taking part in an exercise hosted by the Indian Navy.

Iran expressed anger at the U.S. attack and vowed retaliation. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi wrote on X, “The United States committed an atrocity at sea 2,000 miles (3218㎞) from the Iranian coast” and “The United States will bitterly regret the precedent it has set.”

Some argue that the U.S. sinking of IRIS Dena violated international law. Wes Bryant, a former U.S. Air Force special operations targeting expert, told the Guardian, “You cannot say that that warship presented an imminent threat to anyone” and “Is the Trump administration claiming that the entire Iranian government and military constitute an imminent threat. This is a very dangerous act of military overreach.”

That day, an Iranian missile headed toward Turkey was intercepted by the NATO air defense network. The Ministry of National Defense of Turkey said the missile launched from Iran passed over Iraq and Syria before being intercepted over the eastern Mediterranean.

This was the first time Iran had attacked Turkey, and an attack directed at Turkey, a NATO member, was assessed as a significant sign that Iran is expanding the war. It carries the risk of triggering NATO mutual defense provisions and drawing all 32 NATO member states into war.

U.S. officials said the Iranian missile had targeted Incirlik Air Base, according to the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal. Incirlik Air Base is a key U.S. military facility where the United States has deployed nuclear weapons, including B-61 tactical nuclear bombs.

Initially, the Turkish side also suggested that the Iranian missile had been aimed at a base in Cyprus but veered off its trajectory. Even if that conjecture is correct, given that it targeted a British base in Cyprus, it can be interpreted as a provocation against NATO.

Iran strongly denied firing missiles toward Turkey. The Iranian General Staff said, “Iran respects the sovereignty of Turkey and has never fired any missile into Turkish territory.”

NATO condemned Iran’s missile attack. NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said, “The member states basically support the actions of U.S. President Donald Trump” and “NATO will defend every inch of allied territory in all domains.”

As Iran raises its military threats to the Strait of Hormuz, through which one fifth of the world oil shipped by sea passes, a Malta-flagged containership caught fire the previous day after being struck by an unidentified projectile in the strait. Earlier, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps of Iran said, “We will burn all ships attempting to pass through the Strait of Hormuz,” and claimed that more than ten oil tankers had been hit by missiles and set ablaze.

Meanwhile, Pakistan, which has a mutual defense pact with Saudi Arabia, signaled a possibility of entering the war in response to Iranian attacks on Saudi Arabia. In a speech to the Senate on the 3rd, Pakistani Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar said he had reminded the Iranian side that Pakistan has a mutual defense treaty with Saudi Arabia and warned it not to attack Saudi territory. Mutual defense pacts provide that if one of the parties is invaded, the other party regards itself as having been invaded and will respond.

The remarks by Dar came as Iran continued retaliatory attacks against Saudi Arabia in response to U.S. and Israeli airstrikes. The U.S. Embassy in Riyadh, the Saudi capital, came under an Iranian drone attack, and the Ras Tanura complex, which houses the largest refinery of state oil company Aramco, was also hit by drones.

Analysts assess that Iran is pursuing a strategy of ‘expansion and prolongation of pain,’ inflicting costs on U.S. allies by broadening the fronts of the war and disrupting the global oil market.

On this day as well, the United States and Israel continued attacks on Iran, and Iran continued attacks on Israel and Middle Eastern countries. Iran warned that it would strike the Dimona nuclear facility in Israel if the United States and Israel attempted to force a change of the regime in Iran.

The Iranian Ministry of Health said that as of the previous day, U.S. and Israeli airstrikes had killed 926 Iranians and injured 6,186.