Quiet Triumph

In India’s hyperventilating political discourse, foreign policy has increasingly been reduced to a morality play. The latest performance of the Opposition Congress came after the United States and Israel launched strikes against Iran’s nuclear infrastructure. Congress leaders and a familiar chorus of self-appointed foreign-policy sages and a media ecosystem sympathetic to the party promptly accused the Modi government of ‘silence.’ According to them, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, by choosing to allegedly remain ‘silent’ on the US-Israel strikes on Iran, has damaged the country’s relations with Tehran.

Reality, however, has an inconvenient way of puncturing such narratives. Even as the critics fumed, India’s External Affairs Minister, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar spoke to his Iranian counterpart, Abbas Araghchi.

Soon afterwards, Iran allowed two India-flagged oil tankers - Pushpak and Parimal - to pass safely through the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow maritime artery through which a substantial share of the world’s oil supply flows. At a moment when Tehran has tightened its grip on the strait and attacked several vessels amid its confrontation with the United States and Israel, this clearance is no small diplomatic accomplishment. Nor was it an isolated incident. A Liberian-flagged crude tanker, Shenlong Suezmax, captained by an Indian and carrying oil from Saudi Arabia’s Ras Tanura port, also safely completed its passage through the strait before docking in Mumbai.

Following the same diplomatic engagement, Tehran has also opened its land borders for Indian nationals wishing to exit the country by allowing them to cross through any checkpoint with nothing more than a passport. This concession is striking as it is a privilege extended to no other nationality during the ongoing crisis.

The Indian government’s pragmatic approach reflects a basic geopolitical reality. New Delhi maintains strong ties with both Israel and Iran, adversaries locked in a bitter strategic rivalry over West Asia. Israel supplies advanced defence technology and intelligence cooperation. Iran provides energy resources and sits astride a region crucial to India’s economic security. Choosing sides in such a conflict is not just reckless but goes against fundamental geopolitical logic. Critics from within the country who demand that India loudly denounce one side ought to behave more responsibly, at the very least. A rising power cannot afford ideological rigidity. It must engage multiple partners simultaneously while protecting its national interests. This balancing act, often described as ‘strategic autonomy,’ has been the hallmark of India’s external policy in recent years. The Strait of Hormuz is one of the world’s most critical maritime chokepoints. Roughly a fifth of global oil shipments pass through it. For India, the world’s third-largest consumer of crude, any disruption there would have immediate economic consequences. Rising tensions in the Gulf have already rattled energy markets and forced countries to rethink supply chains.

Under such circumstances, the task of Indian diplomacy is not to indulge ideological theatrics. It is to keep the oil flowing and our citizens safe. This is precisely what New Delhi has done.