Two tankers were struck in the disputed waterway, an Indian crew member was killed and others were injured, days after another strike
India has summoned Iran’s deputy chief of mission in New Delhi after an attack on two tankers in the Strait of Hormuz left an Indian crew member dead and injured eight others.
The attack was the second such incident in less than a week, after the hostilities in the Middle East over the control of the strategic waterway resumed following a lull induced by a temporary truce between Iran and the US in June.
The defense ministry of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) said in a social media post on Tuesday that an Indian crew member died and eight others were injured when two of its tankers were struck by Iranian cruise missiles while transiting through the Strait of Hormuz.
India’s foreign ministry said it summoned Mohammad Javad Hosseini to lodge a ‘strong protest’ against the Iranian attacks on oil tankers passing through the waterway.
The Mombasa and Al Bahiyah were struck while transiting via the southern lane of the strait in Oman’s territorial waters. The dead crew member was on board the Mombasa tanker.
❗️ India ‘Deeply Concerned’ By Attacks on Two Vessels in Strait of Hormuz – MEA
‘We strongly condemn these attacks and acts of violence targeting seafarers and disrupting free and safe navigation through international waterways.’
Of the eight wounded, four were seriously injured. Six of the wounded were Indian nationals, and the rest were identified as Ukrainian nationals.
“India is closely monitoring the situation and is in touch with the UAE authorities to ensure assistance to the affected Indian seafarers,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
New Delhi “strongly condemned” the attacks targeting seafarers and disrupting free and safe navigation through international waterways, adding “the targeting of commercial shipping and civilian infrastructure in the region must cease.”
The Middle East conflict has resulted in the death of nearly a dozen Indian nationals. Several seafarers have been rescued as ships and tankers have come under attack.
An Indian sailor who was onboard the Cyprus-flagged GFS Galaxy, which was attacked off Oman’s northern coast while transiting the Strait of Hormuz last Saturday, is also reportedly missing. Twenty-three crew members, including ten Indian sailors, have been rescued.
In June, three Indian sailors died when US forces enforcing a naval blockade of Iran fired on their vessel, the MT Settebello.
India summoned US Chargé d’Affaires Jason Meeks to the Foreign Ministry in New Delhi twice then over the deaths.
Washington has said it will resume enforcing a maritime blockade of Iran from Tuesday. US forces also carried out new waves of attacks over the weekend on Iranian targets in retaliation for Tehran’s strikes on commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran has targeted several countries in the Middle East, including Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, and Jordan after the US attacks.
