PM, Trump stress 'open and secure' Hormuz

Govt sets up 7 groups to deal with crisis impact

- ARCHIS MOHAN & SANJEEB MUKHERJEE

India on Tuesday continued its efforts to reach out to all sides involved in the West Asian conflict.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi received a phone call from US President Donald Trump. The two leaders stressed that the Strait of Hormuz “remains open, secure and accessible”. Modi said India supports deescalation and the restoration of peace at the earliest.

In the national capital, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar met Iran's Ambassador to India Mohammad Fathali.

In a statement in the Rajya Sabha, the PM termed the situation arising from the severe global energy crisis due to the West Asia war “worrisome” for India. He said it was a matter of “serious concern” for the country that many ships were stranded in the Strait of Hormuz. “Serious consequences are inevitable” if the global circumstances created by this war persist for a long time, Modi said, adding “becoming increasingly self-reliant is the only option”.

The PM said the government had constituted seven empowered groups to deal with the potential long-term impact of the West Asia war across sectors, and urged states to work with the Centre in a “Team India” approach to address the crisis, just as they had done during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020-21.

The seven empowered groups comprise top bureaucrats, including senior officials from the Prime Minister’s Office and the Cabinet Secretariat.

Recalling that empowered groups of experts had helped address challenges during Covid-19, Modi said these seven groups would deal with the consequences of the war and evolve strategies on fuel, fertilisers, gas, supply chains and inflation.