Amid war, Delhi spells out its stakes in peace

Laying out the government’s position on the widening war in West Asia, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, in a suo motu statement in the Rajya Sabha on Monday, urged restraint, de-escalation and prioritisation of the safety of civilians. While Congress has pointed fingers at what it calls the silence of the Narendra Modi government on the assassination of Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Minister Jaishankar steered clear of explicitly condemning any side in the conflict. Instead, he outlined New Delhi’s priorities. He emphasised that India stands for peace, and that space must urgently be created for dialogue and diplomacy.

India has high stakes in the region. Energy security, shipping lanes, and the livelihoods and well-being of nearly 1 crore Indian citizens are tied to stability in the Gulf. Delhi maintains good relations not only with the principal actors in the ongoing hostilities — the US, Israel, and Iran — but also with the Gulf countries caught in the crossfire, particularly Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Notably, Minister Jaishankar urged that the “sovereignty and territorial integrity of all states in the region be respected”. The security of the Indian diaspora in the region is paramount, he said, and the Indian government remains in close contact with counterparts in the region to facilitate the safe return of Indian citizens as and when conditions permit. The interests of the domestic consumer vis-à-vis energy security also remain an “overriding priority”, Jaishankar said. India has an oil import dependency of over 88 per cent; oil prices have surged to their highest levels since 2022 when Russia invaded Ukraine. Around half of India’s crude and LNG imports, and more than 80 per cent of LPG imports, pass through the Strait of Hormuz, which has effectively shut down.

India had granted permission to “three ships in the region”, Jaishankar said, to dock at Indian ports and one of them, the IRIS Lavan, is currently in Kochi. This is significant in the context of the sinking of IRIS Dena by the US in the Indian Ocean Region last week, after which the Indian Navy launched search-and-rescue operations. The attack on the Dena bloodied waters close to India, while on the western front, the island of Cyprus came under attack from a Shahed drone believed to have been launched by Hezbollah, Iran’s proxy in Lebanon. With neither side showing any indication of stepping back, the war remains dangerous and unpredictable. New Delhi must oppose attempts to widen the conflict and continue to press for the reinstatement of diplomacy.