Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says three Australian nationals were on board a US nuclear-powered submarine involved in an incident in which an Iranian military vessel was hit in the Indian Ocean near Sri Lanka.

In an interview with Sky News, Albanese said Australia would not normally confirm such details but was doing so due to “public interest”. He added that the government can confirm “there were three Australian persons on board” the submarine.

Albanese also stressed that, as far as Australia is concerned, no Australian personnel took part in any offensive action against Iran.

He said the three Australians were “getting experience” alongside allied forces under the Australia–UK–US security partnership AUKUS.

Separately, Iranian sources have described the incident as a US torpedo attack on the frigate IRIS Dena, alleging significant casualties and missing crew. Those figures and characterisations have not been independently verified.