US Navy attacked 3 merchant vessels with Indian seafarers; these strikes must stop: India’s firm message to Washington

<p>New Delhi, Jun 11 (PTI): India on Thursday said three merchant ships with Indian crew members came under attack from American military off the coast of Oman in the last four days, resulting in the death of three nationals, and it has lodged a strong protest with the US over the strikes.</p><p>It was New Delhi’s first public acknowledgement that the US Navy targeted the three ships with Indian crew members. New Delhi asserted that these attacks must stop.</p><p>A Palau-flagged oil tanker, Marivex, carrying 24 Indian seafarers, was disabled by US forces on June 8. All crew members were safely rescued. On June 10, the US struck another Palau-flagged tanker, Settebello, killing three out of the 24 Indian sailors on board.</p><p>Another vessel, Jalveer, a Guinea-Bissau-flagged tanker with 20 Indians, was attacked on Thursday.</p><p>External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said at a news briefing that the three separate strikes on Settebello, Marivex and Jalveer "came from the US Navy".</p><p>In a social media post, the US Central Command said Jalveer was "disabled" as a combat aircraft fired two Hellfire missiles into the vessel’s engine room after the crew "repeatedly failed to comply with directions from US forces".</p><p>It said that Jalveer "violated the blockade against Iran by attempting to transport Iranian oil".</p><p>Following the attack on Settebello on Wednesday that killed three Indians, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) summoned US Charge d’Affaires Jason Meeks and he was handed a demarche or diplomatic note of protest.</p><p>"We attach high importance to the welfare and well-being of our seafaring community. When this particular attack on the ship Settebello occurred, we lodged a strong protest with the American side," MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said at an inter-ministerial media briefing.</p><p>"We summoned the US Charge d’Affaires and he was conveyed our deepest concern over the ongoing incidents of attacks. We also registered our strong protest," he said.</p><p>Jaiswal emphasised that these attacks "must stop".</p><p>"We further conveyed that dialogue and diplomacy is the way forward for the peaceful resolution of the conflict, and that there should be unimpeded access through the Strait of Hormuz in accordance with international law," he said.</p><p>"Therefore, we made our position very clear on each of these points, while reiterating how important the lives of our people are, welfare and safety of our people are," he added.</p><p>Jaiswal said two of the three vessels were subject to sanctions administered by the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), while one had been classified as non-compliant.</p><p>The OFAC is the financial intelligence and enforcement agency of the US Treasury Department and it acts against vessels involved in violating US sanctions on the sale of Iranian and Russian oil.</p><p>"The three ships that have been involved in these incidents were foreign-flagged vessels. Two of them were Palau-flagged, while the third ship is Guinea-Bissau-flagged. They were not Indian-owned ships," Jaiswal said.</p><p>Earlier, the US Central Command confirmed strikes on Settebello and Marivex.</p><p>Mukesh Mangal, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, said the evacuation of the seafarers on Jalveer has commenced.</p><p>From Settebello, all the remaining 25 crew members, including 21 Indians, two Pakistanis, one Russian and one Ukrainian, have been safely evacuated, he said, adding the Seamen Welfare Fund Society has been asked to pay Rs 10 lakh to the family of each deceased.</p><p>He said more than 18,000 Indian seafarers remained in the Gulf region, including 562 crew members aboard 13 Indian-flagged ships — 329 on vessels on the west of the Strait of Hormuz and 233 on vessels in the Gulf of Oman.</p><p>In its reaction, India also said that the continuing incidents of attacks on shipping are deeply worrisome and a direct result of the ongoing conflict in the region. New Delhi has been pressing for immediate de-escalation of tensions and the conclusion of ongoing negotiations for a diplomatic solution.</p><p>"The targeting of commercial shipping and civilian infrastructure in the region must end, and free and unimpeded navigation and commerce through the international waterways in the region in keeping with international law must be restored at the earliest," the MEA had said in a statement on Tuesday.</p><p>At a separate media briefing, Secretary (West) in the MEA Sibi George indicated that the evolving situation in West Asia as well as restrictions on shipping through the Strait of Hormuz may figure in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the G7 summit in France next week. PTI ANZ/MPB DIV DIV</p><p><i>(This story is published as part of the auto-generated syndicate wire feed. No editing has been done in the headline or the body by ABP Live.)</i></p>