THE nation has protested to Iran after two Indian-flagged ships came under fire in the Strait of Hormuz amid US-Iran military tensions.
Iranian Ambassador to India Mohammad Fathali was summoned by the Indian Ministry of External Affairs for a meeting in New Delhi on Saturday evening.
The foreign secretary conveyed India’s “deep concern at the shooting incident” in the Strait on Saturday.
The Indian government urged the ambassador to convey its views to the authorities in Iran and to resume at the earliest the process of facilitating India-bound ships across the Strait, it said.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy (IRGC) has said the Strait of Hormuz will remain closed until the United States ends its naval blockade of Iranian ports.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi announced on Friday that the vital sea passage was open for all commercial vessels for the remaining period of the two-week ceasefire agreed between the US and Iran on April 7.
However, in Saturday’s widely reported incident, both the vessels turned back after coming under fire.
“We warn that no vessel of any kind should move from its anchorage in the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman, and approaching the Strait of Hormuz will be considered cooperation with the enemy, and the offending vessel will be targeted,” the IRGC said. — Bernama
