India summons US envoy again over strikes on ships with Indian crew

India lodged a strong protest with the US after summoning its charge d’affaires twice this week over reported US Navy strikes on three commercial vessels near Oman involving Indian crew. The incidents allegedly resulted in deaths, prompting diplomatic tensions

New Delhi: For the second time this week, India on Friday summoned US charge d’affaires Jason Meeks and lodged a strong protest over the American Navy’s strikes on three commercial vessels with Indian crew members off the coast of Oman.

Meeks was called to the Ministry of External Affairs headquarters, a day after the government said three Indian crew members of a tanker were killed in the US action.

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The US charge d’affaires was summoned, and he was conveyed India’s strong protest over the US military’s action. Meeks had also been summoned on Wednesday night.

India on Thursday said three merchant ships with Indian crew members came under attack from American military off the coast of Oman this week, resulting in the death of three nationals.

It was New Delhi’s first public acknowledgement that the US Navy targeted the three ships with Indian crew members. New Delhi asserted that these attacks must stop.

A Palau-flagged oil tanker, Marivex, carrying 24 Indian seafarers, was disabled by US forces on June 8. All crew members were safely rescued.

On June 10, the US struck another Palau-flagged tanker, Settebello, killing three out of the 24 Indian sailors on board. Another vessel, Jalveer, a Guinea-Bissau-flagged tanker with 20 Indians, was attacked on Thursday.

External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said on Thursday that the three separate strikes on the Settebello, Marivex, and Jalveer “came from the US Navy”. Jaiswal said two of the three vessels were subject to sanctions administered by the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), while another had been classified as non-compliant.

The OFAC is the financial intelligence and enforcement agency of the US Treasury Department, and it acts against vessels involved in violating US sanctions on the sale of Iranian and Russian oil.