A second Iranian warship was heading toward Sri Lanka's territorial waters Thursday, a day after a US submarine destroyed an Iranian frigate, killing at least 84 sailors, a minister told parliament. Media minister Nalinda Jayatissa said the second Iranian warship was just outside Sri Lankan waters but gave no further details.

President Anura Kumara Dissanayake was meeting top officials Thursday to discuss a response to an Iranian request to enter the island's waters. Official sources said the vessel was carrying more than 100 crew and feared they too could be targeted the same way a sister vessel was sunk by a US submarine just off Sri Lanka's southern coast on Wednesday.

The sinking of IRIS Dena came as the war sparked by a joint US-Israel attack on Iran continued to spread across the Middle East and beyond. Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi denounced the US attack and warned Washington it would 'bitterly regret' the precedent it has set. Sri Lankan authorities have begun an inquest into the deaths of the sailors at the southern port city of Galle while the chief magistrate Sameera Dodangoda has ordered autopsies.