India’s Foreign Ministry has called for an end to attacks on commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz after summoning Iran’s deputy ambassador over the killing of an Indian mariner in a strike on two tankers there.
“We strongly condemn these attacks and acts of violence targeting seafarers and disrupting free and safe navigation through international waterways like the Strait of Hormuz,” the ministry said.
“In particular, the targeting of commercial shipping and civilian infrastructure in the region must cease in order that free and unimpeded navigation and commerce through international waterways in the region, in keeping with international law, can be restored at the earliest,” it said.
It said it had lodged a “strong protest” with Tehran.
The Iranian attack on the tankers MT Al Bahiyah and MT Mombasa also injured 10 other Indian seafarers, two of them seriously, according to the ministry.
The two UAE-linked commercial vessels were carrying a combined crew of 46 people.
Two Ukrainian nationals were also injured in the cruise-missile attack, according to the UAE’s Defense Ministry.
The UAE said the vessels were sailing through Omani territorial waters along the southern shipping route. It has threatened retaliation against Iran for the attack, which it said was carried out by two cruise missiles.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has claimed the attack, saying the ships “ignored repeated warnings.”
“They chose to pass through a minefield and were subsequently targeted and disabled,” the IRGC said.
Both tankers caught fire after the attack, but the blazes were extinguished.
