The recent incident of the US Navy attacking an unarmed merchant ship off the coast of Oman with two Hellfire missiles and killing three Indian mariners as a result has deeply angered Indian public opinion.

The Indian government was forced to summon the US chargé d’affaires in New Delhi twice to register a protest. What has particularly offended India is the lack of any expression of regret by the US for killing Indian nationals. Whatever the circumstances that led to this killing, some words of regret from the US were expected given the friendly relations between the two countries.

India and the US have a comprehensive global strategic partnership. Both have been cooperating to promote maritime security in the Indo-Pacific region, with regular naval exercises and membership of the Quad. A US officer is stationed in Indian Navy’s Information Fusion Center – Indian Ocean Region (IFC-IOR) in Gurugram. India maintains a reciprocal liaison officer in the US Central Command HQ in Florida as part of deepening maritime, counterterrorism, and undersea domain awareness cooperation.

Given this level of institutional engagement, and the fact that Indian seafarers make up roughly 10% to 12% of the global maritime workforce, the risk to Indian nationals in a region that is a major source of oil and gas not only for India but for Asia as a whole should have prompted the discussion and development of clear protocols to protect their lives.

Beyond that, US sanctions on Iran have no legal basis. Commercial shipping has no legal obligation therefore to adhere to the blockade though prudence would demand a careful assessment of risks involved in violating it. If individual ships, for whatever reason, were willing to take the risk of passing through the Strait of Hormuz with their transponders shut, it may be foolhardy on their part, but the question arises as to who gave the US the legal authority to fire missiles at them.

It is in this context that Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar spoke to US Secretary of State Rubio and reiterated India’s strong protest at the attacks by the US Navy in the Gulf that killed three Indian mariners. During the call, Jaishankar stated that such lethal actions against commercial shipping were not justified.

Rather surprisingly, Rubio’s response was unusually harsh and peremptory. He stressed to Jaishankar that all commercial vessels should immediately comply with orders from US forces which seek to uphold peace and security in the strait. He underscored that violations of the US blockade and the illicit transport of Iranian oil will not be tolerated. 

Rubio implicitly not only justified the killing of three Indian mariners under the circumstances, but warned that this could happen again as the US will not tolerate the violation of its unilaterally imposed blockade. There is not even a pro forma expression of regret at the killing of nationals of a friendly country.

The irony of Rubio’s unyielding message to India is that two days later President Donald Trump announced the lifting of the US blockade and unhindered passage through the........

© RT.com