The time for India’s strategic restraint towards the United States is over

I wasn’t sure how to start writing the piece and get a huge load off my chest, as it were. Maybe it’s better that I quote the poor Indian mariners at sea, part of the merchant fleet caught in the middle of a bruising war between the United States and Iran, stranded on inhospitable waters, getting bombarded by American missiles, dying without medical attention – the air heavy with humidity, the stench of rotting flesh and the moral decay of the American empire.

“We are in Iran right now..Only Indian ships are being attacked. Why? Why are you bringing us into your fight? We aren’t military or anything like that…”

One can feel the helplessness and anguish of the seafarers, out to earn their bread far from home, collateral damage in a war that has nothing to do with India or Indians. In these contested waters where a double naval blockade is in place, ‘dark’ tankers ferrying sanctioned crude are mostly headed for China, the largest importer of Iranian oil. Not one China-linked ship or Chinese crew members have come under attack so far in this conflict zone. Obviously, Washington knows better.

More from Opinion

Indians are easy targets. It gets easier when even the government, whose citizens have been the victims of a war crime, reflexively chooses sangfroid over reading the riot act.

Laws of the sea say even shipwrecked military sailors must be rescued by adversaries who have an obligation to search for, rescue, and care for the stranded. Here, US Central Command (CENTCOM) blasted Hellfire missile to disable the engines of three oil tankers, Marivex, Settebello, and Jalveer, sank them and ignored their distress calls, leaving the civilians to die.

The tanker Settebello, that had three of its crew members killed and 21 others rescued (all Indians) by Omani authorities, was targeted by CENTCOM for allegedly “attempting to transport oil from Iran” and “repeatedly” failing “to comply with directions from American forces”, claimed the US side.

BBC Verify quoted the company that manages Settebello, IOS Marine FZE, as saying that it “categorically denies” the ship ignored directions and said it has “no affiliation with Iran or Iranian oil”, stressing that “no contact whatsoever was made with the vessel.” The company, according to the BBC report, “called on the US to release evidence of its communications with the ship”.

The evidence isn’t forthcoming. These weren’t military frigates from adversarial nations; these weren’t sanctioned and these weren’t ferrying Iranian oil. Couple of these vessels were Palau-flagged, while one carried the flag of Guinea-Bissau, manned by crew from a friendly country who were not given the slightest of chances by the mighty US Navy that decided to show its frustration of losing the war against Iran by taking down a few soft targets, violating one of the core tenets of international law -- the immunity of merchant mariners from military action.

It is also not clear whether American action was legal at all. Maritime law does allow interception of vessels during a naval blockade, but the standard operating procedure for non-compliant commercial vessels is progressive use of non-lethal force. The VBSS (visit, board, search, and seize) procedure seems to have been deliberately ignored in favour of lethal firepower by the US Navy at the vessels with full knowledge that civilians from a friendly nation would fall in harm’s way.

Which ‘friendly’ nation does this? Is the United States at war with its ‘major defense partner’?

In December last year, a shadow fleet tanker named Bella 1 under ship master Avtandil Kalandadze of Georgia, that historically transported Iran- and Venezuela-origin oil, engaged in a ship-to-ship transfer of sanctioned Iranian crude and evaded the US coast guard when intercepted, fleeing into the Atlantic Ocean and disobeying multiple orders by US law enforcement officers.

According to a statement from the US Department of Justice, Kalandadze of Bella 1 forced the US coast guard into a “multi-week pursuit” and “by refusing lawful orders from the US Coast Guard and leading them on a chase across the Atlantic Ocean, he not only obstructed federal law enforcement, but forced service members to carry out a dangerous boarding operation in heavy seas.”

Note that despite such severe violations, the US Navy did not use lethal force, raising the question whether only Indian crew members are fair targets for illegal action?

Second Officer Nishanth Uirthanathan from Tamil Nadu, on board vessel MT Celestial, died on June 11 after falling seriously ill while the tanker was docked at Duqm Port ‌in Oman, unable to move due to the blockade.

In a post on X, FSUI (Seamen’s Union of India) gave a heartbreaking account of how Uirthanathan’s mortal remains remained onboard for over two days with no proper refrigeration, forcing the crew to dump cold water bottles in a desperate attempt to arrest decomposition. “Despite repeated distress calls, timely medical evacuation was reportedly delayed amid regional tensions. FSUI and the captain are urgently demanding body preservation/repatriation, crew support, and full investigation into the response failures,” said FSUI.

While India’s external affairs ministry has twice summoned top American diplomat Jason Meeks to convey India’s “strong protest” over the series of attacks by US naval forces on Indian mariners, and foreign minister S Jaishankar, after a massive public outrage, dialled up US secretary of state Marco Rubio to reiterate “India’s strong protest” and made it clear that “such lethal actions against commercial shipping are not justified,” it has been interesting to read Rubio’s statement on the phone call.

The US secretary of state appears totally unrepentant at American forces taking out civilian seafarers, and in a statement dripping with disdain and imperial arrogance, “stressed that all commercial vessels should immediately comply with orders from U.S. forces as they seek to uphold peace and security in the Strait”, underscoring that “violations of the US blockade and the illicit transport of Iranian oil will not be tolerated.”

Not a line of apology for shooting at unarmed merchant ships, no remorse, not even a pro-forma regret at the unfortunate loss of lives of civilians from a country that he called an “important strategic partner of the United States, one of our most important strategic partners in the world” during the recent visit. Heck, Rubio couldn’t bring himself to even mention the dead, leave alone offering a sliver of condolence. It was almost as if he was proving a point by being deliberately disrespectful, showing that the lives of Indians are worth nothing from America’s viewpoint. It flows from the attitude of his boss, Donald J Trump, who reflects succinctly the debility, decadence and degeneration of the American empire.

Since he came to power for the second time, Trump has launched a trade war against India, slapped eye-watering tariffs for New Delhi’s ‘crime’ of buying Russian crude to ensure energy security for her citizens, overseen a terror-sponsoring Pakistan’s diplomatic reinstatement at the cost of several of India’s core red lines, removed India’s access from frontier AI models and now American military has singled out Indian civilians on merchant vessels for ‘special’ treatment.

It isn’t really surprising to find India at the receiving end of America’s decline anxiety. While a paranoid US makes no distinction between friends and adversaries, if anything, because of Trump’s personal admiration towards autocrats, he’s way more deferential towards Xi Jinping, Vladimir Putin or even Asim Munir, and has no patience for the core concerns, basic dignities or sensibilities of a democratic India.

This has resulted in a situation where not only did the Americans fire missiles on vessels carrying Indian crew on board, killing three and putting to jeopardy the lives of countless others, they now dish out a stern lecture instead of apologising or expressing any regret.

India has been patient and restrained in its dealings with the US despite provocations. A large part of it owes to the obvious difference in national composite power, India’s material deficiencies and dependence on others for everything, from energy to jet engines to critical minerals or technological advancement. That said, the time is ripe for a reset in ties.

It need not be a hotheaded response to gunboat diplomacy. But this Trump White House understands only the language of strength, and brings full weight of its power not against adversaries, but ‘friendly’ nations that repeatedly proves that it has no stomach to stand up for its own rights. The time for strategic restraint is over.

(The views expressed in this piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstpost’s views.)