External Affairs Minister (EAM) Dr S Jaishankar said on Saturday that he called on US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, lodging protests over attacks by the American Navy on three largely Indian-crewed merchant vessels in the Gulf amid Washington's ongoing conflict with Tehran.
"I reiterated India’s strong protest at the attacks by the US Navy in the Gulf that killed three Indian mariners. Such lethal actions against commercial shipping are not justified," Jaishankar said on X (previously Twitter).
Three merchant vessels with Indian crew members were attacked in the Gulf this week. The first incident happened on June 8 when MT Marivex, a Palau-flagged tanker with 24 crew members - all Indians, was attacked off the coast of Oman. The crew was airlifted by Oman.
The second incident happened on June 10 when another Palau-flagged tanker MT Settebello carrying 24 crew members was targeted near Oman. Of the 24 crew members, three unfortunately lost their lives.
On June 11, MT Jalveer, a Guinea-Bissau-flagged tanker with 20 Indian sailors, was hit by the US military. The crew was safely evacuated later.
In protest to these attacks, India on Friday summoned US Deputy Chief of Mission Jason Meeks. But interestingly, US President Donald Trump alleged that Iran was responsible for carrying out these strikes and called the attacks "totally unacceptable."
"Their (Iran's) totally rebuffed Drone attack last night against Indian Ships leaving the Hormuz Strait is TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE. They better get their act together and FAST," Trump claimed in a post on Truth Social.
However, Iran rejected the charges and described them as "baseless", saying that it was an attempt to divert everyone's attention from the fact that the US was responsible for these strikes.
"The U.S. president's accusation against Iran regarding an Indian vessel in the Strait of Hormuz is simply baseless," Iran's Embassy in India said in an X post. "It is an attempt to divert public attention from the brutal fact that the U.S. has attacked 3 Indian vessels in less than a week and killed 3 innocent Indian sailors. That's pathetic!"
India is one of the world's largest contributors of sailors to the merchant shipping industry. As per the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, India provided around 3.2 lakh active seafarers in 2025.
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