India Protests Iran's Targeting of Two Vessels in Hormuz

SadaNews - The Indian Ministry of External Affairs summoned the Iranian ambassador on Saturday to express its protest regarding the "shooting incident" involving two vessels flying the Indian flag in the Strait of Hormuz.

On Saturday, Iran reneged on its decision to reopen the vital corridor for commercial shipping during the remaining period of the ceasefire in the Middle East war, protesting the failure to lift the U.S. blockade on its ports.

The Indian Foreign Ministry stated in a notice that it had summoned the ambassador and conveyed "India's grave concern over the shooting incident that occurred earlier today involving two vessels flying the Indian flag in the Strait of Hormuz."

New Delhi also urged Tehran to "resume the facilitation of the passage of vessels heading to India through the strait at the earliest," according to the statement that indicated the envoy "committed to conveying these views to the Iranian authorities."

The tracking site "Tanker Trackers" on X platform reported that "the Iranian Revolutionary Guard’s navy forced two Indian vessels to turn back west from the Strait of Hormuz," adding that one of them was "a supertanker flying the Indian flag carrying two million barrels of Iraqi oil."

India, the world’s second-largest buyer of liquefied petroleum gas, managed to secure the passage of several vessels flying its flag through the Strait of Hormuz in recent weeks.

India imports approximately 60 percent of its liquefied petroleum gas needs and has faced a gas crisis since the onset of the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran on February 28.

New Delhi maintains close ties with Tehran but has steadily expanded its cooperation with Israel in the fields of defense, agriculture, technology, and cybersecurity.