External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Saturday spoke with United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio and registered India’s strong protest over the US strikes on commercial vessels in the Gulf that killed three Indian seafarers off the coast of Oman.
“I reiterated India’s strong protest at the attacks by the US Navy in the Gulf that killed three Indian mariners,” Jaishankar said in a social media post. “Such lethal actions against commercial shipping are not justified.”
The conversation came hours after the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) summoned United States Chargé d’Affaires Jason Meeks for the second consecutive day to convey India’s objection over the continued US strikes on ships carrying Indian crew members in West Asia.
Meeks was also summoned on Thursday after India protested against a strike on a commercial tanker off the coast of Oman on Wednesday, in which three Indian nationals were killed.
Twenty-one crew members were rescued from the Palau-flagged tanker Settebello following the attack.
On Thursday, MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said New Delhi had conveyed its “deepest concerns on the ongoing incidents of attacks” to Meeks and had “registered a strong protest” over the matter.
“These attacks came from the US Navy stationed there,” Jaiswal said during a government briefing on the conflict in West Asia.
The US Central Command had acknowledged carrying out the strike on the Settebello, claiming that the vessel had violated an American blockade restricting maritime traffic linked to Iran. The ship was allegedly attempting to transport oil from Iran.
Hours after Meeks was summoned by the MEA on Thursday, the United States said its military had “disabled” another tanker off the coast of Oman, alleging that it was also attempting to transport oil from Iran.
Videos shared on social media showed smoke rising from the Guinea-Bissau-flagged bitumen tanker MT Jalveer, which was located near the port of Shinas in northern Oman. Twenty Indian seafarers on board the vessel were evacuated.
On Monday, another tanker, Marivex, carrying 24 Indian seafarers, was targeted by the US military for allegedly violating the blockade. All crew members were rescued.
New Delhi said on Thursday that all three vessels targeted by the US military between Monday and Thursday were foreign-flagged ships. Two of the vessels are sanctioned by the US Office of Foreign Assets Control, while one ship is also classified as a “non-compliant ship”, Jaiswal said.