Maritime Security Risks Persist in Strait of Hormuz and Black Sea Amid Attacks on Merchant Shipping
India's External Affairs Minister held a telephone conversation with Iran's Foreign Minister, urging that attacks on commercial shipping and seafarers in and around the Strait of Hormuz be halted, and stating that India condemns such attacks by any party
Separately, India's External Affairs Minister conveyed to Ukraine's Foreign Minister that attacks on commercial shipping and Indian seafarers in the Black Sea are unacceptable and condemned by India
Multiple merchant vessels with Indian crew have come under attack amid the standoff between the United States and Iran near the Strait of Hormuz, with reports of over a dozen Indian nationals, including several seafarers, killed in the conflict
In the Black Sea, a series of strikes on civilian merchant vessels over a short period killed several Indian seafarers, prompting India to formally summon the diplomatic representatives of the parties involved and lodge protests
India reiterated its position that freedom of navigation and the safety of seafarers and commercial shipping must be protected regardless of the parties to a conflict
Strait of Hormuz: Geography and Strategic Significance
The Strait of Hormuz is the narrow waterway connecting the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea, bordered by Iran to the north and Oman's Musandam exclave to the south. It is one of the world's most critical energy chokepoints, and its security directly affects India's energy imports and the safety of Indian seafarers who crew a large share of the global merchant fleet.
The attacks on commercial shipping discussed in the ministerial call occurred in and around this strait, directly threatening the energy and seafarer-safety interests that make the Strait of Hormuz a recurring flashpoint in India's West Asia diplomacy.
UNCLOS: Transit Passage Regime for International Straits
The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), 1982 governs the legal regime of straits used for international navigation, such as Hormuz, under Part III (Articles 34-45). This framework is the legal basis on which India and other maritime nations assert the right of ships to pass through such straits without interference, even during regional conflicts.
India's diplomatic protests over attacks on merchant vessels in the Strait of Hormuz and the Black Sea invoke the broader principle of freedom of navigation that UNCLOS's transit passage and high seas provisions are designed to protect.
Operation Sankalp: Indian Navy's Maritime Security Deployment
Operation Sankalp is the Indian Navy's ongoing mission to safeguard Indian-flagged merchant vessels and secure sea lines of communication in the Gulf region, launched in response to earlier rounds of tanker attacks near the Strait of Hormuz.
The renewed attacks on merchant shipping near Hormuz test the continuing relevance and reach of this standing naval deployment, which underpins India's practical response alongside diplomatic engagement such as the ministerial call.
Black Sea Maritime Security and the Grain Initiative
The Black Sea has emerged as a second major theatre of attacks on civilian merchant shipping, linked to the Russia-Ukraine conflict, with implications for global food security given the region's role as a major grain export corridor.
Key Details
- The Black Sea Grain Initiative (July 2022, brokered by the UN and Turkey) had earlier established a safe corridor for Ukrainian grain exports before Russia's withdrawal from the arrangement; India has supported UN-led efforts to renew safe-shipping arrangements in the region
- Recent strikes on civilian merchant vessels near Ukrainian ports (including vessels departing Odesa) have killed multiple Indian seafarers, prompting India to summon the ambassadors of the states involved and lodge formal protests
- India has repeatedly called such attacks on civilian shipping and seafarers "unacceptable," regardless of which party carries them out
The same principle of protecting civilian shipping and seafarer safety that India invoked with Iran over the Strait of Hormuz was separately invoked with Ukraine over the Black Sea, reflecting a consistent institutional position across two distinct conflict theatres.
- Strait of Hormuz narrowest navigable width: ~33 km; shipping lanes ~3 km wide in each direction
- Share of global seaborne oil trade through the Strait of Hormuz: ~20%
- Operation Sankalp launched: 19 June 2019, covering Strait of Hormuz, Gulf of Oman, and northern Arabian Sea
- UNCLOS transit passage regime: Articles 37-44 (Part III), India ratified UNCLOS in 1995
- Black Sea Grain Initiative: brokered July 2022 by the UN and Turkey; Russia later withdrew from the arrangement
- Indian seafarer casualties reported in recent weeks: over a dozen in Gulf-related incidents; at least five in a cluster of Black Sea vessel strikes near Odesa, including one merchant vessel struck in Russian territorial waters and another struck while departing the Ukrainian port of Odesa