The U.S. government has attributed the attack on the tanker Chem Pluto to Iranian forces and claims that the munition was “fired from Iran.” Though Tehran denies involvement, its officials have threatened to expand recent Iranian proxy attacks on Israel-linked shipping into additional ocean basins.
Attacks in India’s western shipping lanes present a new geostrategic challenge for New Delhi. The deployment of three guided-missile destroyers represents a substantial commitment to maritime security, but it also adds a new wrinkle for the complexities of Iranian-Indian relations. The two nations are past and present commercial partners but they have conflicting foreign policy priorities.
The Indian Ministry of Defense left the details of the patrol under wraps, saying only that the warships would be deployed to “various areas” to respond to a “recent spate of attacks in the Red Sea.”
