The irony is that the U.S. and India are "Major Defense Partners," conduct joint military exercises and cooperate across the Indo-Pacific. Yet the U.S. Navy has launched missile strikes against commercial tankers in international waters and killed Indian merchant mariners.
The U.S. Navy had direct communications with the crews of the three foreign-flagged commercial tankers and was fully aware of their Indian nationality before launching the strikes that killed three crew members this week.
This echoes March, when the U.S. Navy torpedoed and sank, in India's backyard, an Iranian frigate returning in a non-combat configuration after largely expending its munitions during an India-hosted multilateral naval exercise in which the U.S. also participated.
And just as the U.S. Navy did not attempt to rescue the sailors from the sinking frigate, it likewise did not come to the aid of the surviving Indian crew members aboard the three tankers it struck. The rescue efforts were mounted instead by Omani authorities.
It is noteworthy that the vessels Washington labels part of a "shadow fleet" transporting crude oil are largely linked to China and Russia. Yet since the Trump-ordered naval blockade began on April 13 without any basis in international law, the U.S. military has not struck a single tanker actively bound for, or coming directly from, either China or Russia.
Striking such a vessel would transform a localized naval blockade into a direct geopolitical confrontation with Beijing or Moscow — a line the Trump administration has explicitly avoided crossing. Instead, it has employed kinetic force only against lower-profile vessels, including those carrying Indian crew members.
Taken together, these incidents are a sad commentary on the state of India's foreign policy under the present government.
This gets worse.
So not only did the US Navy fire two missiles and kill three Indian sailors they refused to rescue the 24 Indian crew despite saying they are on fire, the vessel is sinking and that they are an all Indian crew.
The Omanis rescued them.
ED raids @Vedanta_Group
today after Vedanta challenged approval of Adani’s ₹14,535 crore bid for Jaiprakash Associates where it was also a bidder. Why does @nsitharaman pay for ED out of Union Budget- why doesn’t Adani pay ED salaries?
NEET: 22 lakh students affected
CBSE: 17 lakh students affected
CUET (UG): 16 lakh students affected
That’s 55 lakh students in distress.
Is one incompetent Education Minister more important than 55 lakh students? Why is the Prime Minister not sacking him?
Dharmendra Pradhan won’t resign because accountability is contagious. If he goes, Hardeep Singh Puri is next. Then Ashwini Vaishnaw. Then Nirmala Sitharaman. Pull one domino and the entire chain of manufactured invincibility comes crashing down.