India Protests US Strikes on Merchant Ships After Three Indian Seafarers Killed Near Oman

India on Thursday said three merchant vessels carrying Indian crew members had come under attack by the American military off the coast of Oman over the past four days, leaving three Indian nationals dead, and confirmed that it had lodged a strong protest with the United States over the strikes.

This marked New Delhi’s first public acknowledgement that the US Navy had targeted three vessels carrying Indian seafarers. India asserted that such attacks must cease.

On June 8, a Palau-flagged oil tanker, Marivex, carrying 24 Indian seafarers, was disabled by US forces, though all crew members were rescued safely. Two days later, another Palau-flagged tanker, Settebello, was struck by the US, killing three of the 24 Indian sailors onboard.

A third vessel, Jalveer, a Guinea-Bissau-flagged tanker carrying 20 Indian nationals, was attacked on Thursday.

Speaking at a media briefing, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said the three incidents involving Settebello, Marivex and Jalveer "came from the US Navy".

In a social media statement, US Central Command said Jalveer had been "disabled" after a combat aircraft fired two Hellfire missiles into the vessel’s engine room, alleging that the crew had "repeatedly failed to comply with directions from US forces".

The command further alleged that Jalveer "violated the blockade against Iran by attempting to transport Iranian oil".

Following Wednesday’s strike on Settebello that killed three Indian nationals, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) summoned US Charge d'Affaires Jason Meeks and issued a demarche, or diplomatic protest note.

"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.

"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.

Jaiswal stressed that these attacks "must stop".

"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.

"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.

Jaiswal said two of the three vessels involved had been sanctioned by the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), while one vessel had been classified as non-compliant.

OFAC is the financial intelligence and enforcement arm of the US Treasury Department and oversees sanctions enforcement against vessels involved in transporting Iranian and Russian oil in violation of US restrictions.

"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.

Earlier, US Central Command had confirmed strikes on both Settebello and Marivex.

Mukesh Mangal, Additional Secretary in the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, said evacuation operations for seafarers aboard Jalveer had begun.

From Settebello, all remaining 25 crew members — including 21 Indians, two Pakistanis, one Russian and one Ukrainian — have been evacuated safely, he said. He added that the Seamen Welfare Fund Society had been directed to provide Rs 10 lakh in compensation to the family of each deceased sailor.

Mangal also said that more than 18,000 Indian seafarers remain in the Gulf region, including 562 crew members aboard 13 Indian-flagged vessels — 329 on ships west of the Strait of Hormuz and 233 operating in the Gulf of Oman.

Reacting to the developments, India said the continuing attacks on shipping were deeply concerning and a direct consequence of the ongoing regional conflict. New Delhi reiterated its call for immediate de-escalation and for ongoing negotiations to lead to a diplomatic resolution.

"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 said in a statement on Tuesday.

At a separate media briefing, MEA Secretary (West) Sibi George indicated that the evolving situation in West Asia, along with restrictions affecting shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, may feature in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the G7 summit in France next week.

(with PTI inputs)