US-Israel Strikes Hit Iranian Port Near Strait of Hormuz as West Asia Conflict Escalates

The Strait of Hormuz is the world's most critical maritime chokepoint for global energy supply. Located between Oman (to the south) and Iran (to the north), it connects the Persian Gulf — where the bulk of Middle Eastern oil and gas is produced — to the Gulf of Oman and the Indian Ocean. At its narrowest, the Strait is approximately 33 km wide, with only two 3.2-km-wide navigable shipping lanes.

The 2026 US-Israeli military campaign against Iran represents the most significant direct military engagement between these parties in decades. Iran has long been engaged in a "maximum pressure" standoff with the US and Israel, primarily over its nuclear programme, support for militant proxies (Hezbollah, Hamas, Houthis), and conventional military build-up including ballistic missiles and drones.

Key Details

• The campaign reportedly began on 28 February 2026, following multiple provocations including Houthi attacks on shipping, Iranian drone and missile attacks on Israel, and unresolved nuclear programme standoffs.
• The killing of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in the opening strikes marked an unprecedented targeting of Iran's apex leadership — a significant escalatory threshold.
• Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) controls the country's naval strategy in the Persian Gulf and Strait of Hormuz, including the deployment of small fast-attack boats, anti-ship missiles, and mines.
• Iran's asymmetric strategy uses the Strait of Hormuz as a leverage instrument — the threat of closure acts as deterrence and a tool of economic warfare against adversaries.
• Houthi forces in Yemen have also entered the conflict, extending the threat to the Red Sea and Bab-el-Mandeb Strait, another critical global shipping lane.

Under UNCLOS, all vessels — civilian and military — have the right of "innocent passage" or "transit passage" through international straits used for international navigation. The Strait of Hormuz falls under this regime, meaning Iran cannot legally block the passage of foreign vessels, though it can regulate speed, direction, and navigation practices.

India has multiple overlapping interests in West Asia: energy security (40–45% of crude imports), diaspora welfare (over 9 million Indian workers in the Gulf), remittance flows (India's top remittance source region), trade connectivity through the Gulf, and strategic balance vis-à-vis China and Pakistan.

Key Details

• India receives approximately $40 billion annually in remittances from the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region, the largest single source of India's diaspora remittances.
• Kerala alone has over 3 million Malayali workers in the Gulf, making it the state most directly affected by West Asian instability through both remittance disruption and evacuation logistics.
• India's evacuation capacity was tested during Operation Raahat (Yemen, 2015) and Operation Kaveri (Sudan, 2023), and is likely being stress-tested again with flight disruptions caused by the current conflict.
• India's I2U2 grouping (India, Israel, UAE, USA) creates additional diplomatic complexity, given the co-involvement of Israel and the USA in the conflict.
• India's non-alignment and strategic autonomy traditionally position it as not taking sides in US-Iran confrontations, while maintaining working relations with both.