India in touch with key parties for transit of stranded vessels

India said on Saturday it is in touch with all key stakeholders in West Asia to ensure the safe passage of Indian-flagged merchant vessels through the Strait of Hormuz to ensure the country’s energy security, even as two LPG tankers sailed through the crucial waterway and headed towards Indian ports.

- Rezaul H Laskar

MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal, along with PIB director general Anupama Bhatnagar, speaks during an interministerial briefing on recent developments in West Asia in New Delhi on Saturday. ANI

(ANI)

A total of 22 Indian-flagged merchant vessels ~ including six LPG carriers, an LNG carrier and four crude oil tankers - are still in the Persian Gulf and awaiting safe passage, officials told a media briefing on the situation in West Asia. Shivalik and Nanda Devi, two carriers with 92,700 metric tonnes of LPG, transited the Strait of Hormuz early on Saturday and are expected to dock at Mundra and Kandla next week, they said.

Since the start of the Iran-US conflict on February 28, India has called for deescalation, emphasised the need to ensure the unimpeded transit of goods and energy, and urged all sides to avoid the targeting of civilian infrastructure, including energy infrastructure, across the region, said external affairs ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal.

India’s leadership reached out to all key interlocutors, including all members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), Iran, Israel and the US and underlined the country’s focus on energy security. “As a result of these multiple contacts with all concerned, some ships destined for India have been able to cross through the Strait of Hormuz,” Jaiswal said.

Separately, Iranian ambassador Mohammad Fathali said at the India Today Conclave that Tehran has allowed some Indian-flagged vessels to transit the Strait of Hormuz following contacts between President Masoud Pezeshkian and Prime Minister Narendra and foreign ministers S Jaishankar and Seyed Abbas Araghchi in recent days.