Since the outbreak of the West Asia conflict on February 28, 2026, when Israel and the United States jointly attacked Iran, the Strait of Hormuz — arguably the world’s most strategically critical maritime chokepoint — has been effectively closed to normal commercial shipping. The newly elected Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei has explicitly stated that the Strait must remain closed as a strategic tool to pressure the United States and Israel. As of March 14, 2026, 23 Indian-flagged ships carrying petroleum and other cargo remain stranded inside the Persian Gulf west of the Strait, three cargo ships with 76 seafarers are in the Gulf of Oman, and only one LPG carrier, the Shivalik (owned by the Shipping Corporation of India), has managed to transit the Strait since March 1, reportedly using manual navigation after switching off its Automatic Identification System (AIS) to avoid targeting.
The crisis has directly endangered Indian lives — four Indian sailors have been killed since the conflict began, five have died in attacks on oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz, and at least 35 to 40 have been injured. The captain of the ship MV SKYLIGHT, Ashish Kumar from Bihar’s Bettiah, was killed when the vessel was struck by a projectile off the coast of Oman. Approximately 23,000 Indian nationals work on merchant ships, ports, and offshore vessels in the Persian Gulf region, in addition to 90 lakh to 1 crore Indian expatriates across the six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries.
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This crisis is of multi-dimensional significance for UPSC aspirants — it encompasses India’s energy security vulnerability, the strategic importance of the Indian Ocean and its choke points for national security, the diplomatic dimension of India’s relationship with Iran and the GCC, and the immediate humanitarian challenge of protecting Indian nationals abroad. These themes span GS-II (international relations, diplomacy), GS-III (energy security, infrastructure), and Internal Security (maritime security).
Table of Contents
Background and Context: Five Important Key Points
- India imports approximately 85 percent of its crude oil and 60 percent of its LPG requirements, with around 90 percent of LPG imports routed through the Strait of Hormuz — making the chokepoint’s closure an immediate and severe threat to India’s energy supply chain, domestic LPG availability, and industrial gas supply.
- The Strait of Hormuz, which connects the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Oman and the broader Indian Ocean, is approximately 33 kilometres wide at its narrowest point and carries approximately 20 to 21 percent of global liquefied petroleum gas trade and 17 to 18 percent of global oil trade — there is no commercially viable alternative route for supertankers carrying Gulf crude.
- GPS spoofing and AIS jamming are being actively deployed as war tools in the Strait of Hormuz, creating navigation hazards for commercial vessels; the Shenlong, a crude oil tanker that reached Mumbai on March 8, undertook what is described as a “perilous journey” in “digital darkness” using manual navigation to transit the Strait safely.
- India has invoked its diplomatic leverage as BRICS Chair and through direct Prime Minister-level communication with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian to secure safe passage for Indian ships, but the government has acknowledged it is “premature to expect Iran to allow Indian ships to cross the strait” freely.
- The United States has granted India a 30-day waiver allowing purchase of Russian oil, having previously imposed sanctions related to the Ukraine conflict — a decision reflecting US acknowledgment that India needs alternative supply sources and that allied interests may require pragmatic flexibility on sanctions.
Strategic Geography: The Strait of Hormuz and Indian Ocean Geopolitics
The Indian Ocean is geopolitically described as India’s primary zone of strategic interest, flanked by the Arabian Sea to the west and the Bay of Bengal to the east, with the Strait of Hormuz forming the critical northern gateway. India’s Naval Maritime doctrine explicitly identifies the Strait of Hormuz and the Strait of Malacca as the two critical chokepoints affecting India’s maritime trade and energy security. The Indian Navy maintains continuous presence in the Gulf of Aden region for anti-piracy operations under Operation Sankalp, which was expanded during the 2023-24 Houthi attacks on commercial shipping.
However, the current crisis reveals the limitations of India’s naval strategy in a scenario where the conflict is between the United States, Israel, and Iran — all of which have significantly greater naval and air power than India in the region. India’s navy cannot escort commercial vessels through a maritime zone that is actively contested by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy, which operates sophisticated anti-ship missiles, drones, and swarms of fast attack craft.
Indian Diaspora and Humanitarian Dimension
The scale of India’s civilian exposure in the conflict zone is staggering. According to the Ministry of External Aairs, 90 lakh to 1 crore Indian expatriates live and work across the six GCC countries, constituting the largest foreign workforce in the region. The Indian government issued safety advisories and established an all-round control room on March 4, receiving approximately 900 calls and 200 mails. Some 1.5 lakh Indians have returned to India since February 28. An Iranian naval vessel, IRIS Lavan, had been docked at Kochi port since March 4 following a technical snag, with approximately 100 Iranian sailors subsequently flying out of Kochi airport on a chartered flight — a logistical and diplomatic management challenge that India handled discreetly.
The consular response has come under sharp criticism from stranded Indian tourists, with one traveller, Priti Prakash, describing how the Consulate General of India in Dubai failed to respond to the 50-70 Indians waiting at its gates. This highlights a structural weakness in India’s consular infrastructure relative to the scale of its overseas civilian presence in crisis-prone zones.
Energy Security: Structural Vulnerability and the Path to Diversification
The Strait of Hormuz crisis is the most acute manifestation of India’s chronic energy security vulnerability — a structural dependence on imported fossil fuels routed through geopolitically volatile chokepoints. India’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) capacity — currently at approximately 5.33 million tonnes across three underground caverns at Visakhapatnam, Mangaluru, and Padur — provides only a limited buffer, approximately nine to ten days of import cover. By contrast, the International Energy Agency recommends a minimum of 90 days of import cover for member countries.
India has taken significant steps toward energy diversification — the target of 500 GW of non-fossil fuel electricity capacity by 2030, the National Green Hydrogen Mission, the SHANTI Bill for nuclear energy expansion, and the increase in domestic crude oil production. However, in the near and medium term, India remains deeply dependent on Gulf oil, and the current crisis exposes the gap between energy transition ambitions and present-day energy security reality.
Diplomatic Navigation: India’s Balancing Act
India’s diplomatic position in the West Asia conflict is characteristically one of strategic autonomy — avoiding explicit alignment with any party while pursuing its immediate national interests. India co-sponsored UN Security Council Resolution 2817, which condemned Iran’s attacks on Gulf states, but has not criticised the US-Israeli strikes that precipitated the conflict. The Congress opposition has criticised the government for this asymmetry, pointing out that India declared state mourning for Iranian President Raisi’s death in 2024 but has been silent on the assassination of Supreme Leader Khamenei.
The India-Iran bilateral relationship is complex and multidimensional: Iran is a BRICS+ member (India holds the presidency), India has significant economic exposure through the Chabahar Port agreement (which is exempt from US sanctions), and a large Indian diaspora works in Iranian border regions. Simultaneously, India’s relations with Israel and the United States are at their deepest strategic level, with defence cooperation, technology partnerships, and the QUAD framework all reinforcing alignment with the Western bloc.
Way Forward
India must urgently pursue a multi-pronged energy security strategy. In the immediate term, the government should expand the SPR by contracting for additional storage capacity, preferably in partnership with the private sector, targeting at least 30 days of import cover within three years. India should negotiate long-term oil supply agreements with non-Gulf producers — Russia (already under the US waiver), the United States (as LNG), Canada (through the CEPA and bilateral energy MoUs), and African producers. The Indian Navy should upgrade its escort capability and develop a dedicated maritime security protocol for protecting Indian-flagged commercial vessels in contested zones. Consular infrastructure in the Gulf must be dramatically expanded, with pre-positioned crisis response teams and digitised emergency registration systems for all Indian nationals.
In the long run, the only durable solution to the Strait of Hormuz vulnerability is reducing India’s dependence on fossil fuel imports through an accelerated energy transition — renewable energy, nuclear power under the SHANTI framework, and green hydrogen.
Relevance for UPSC and SSC Examinations
GS Paper II: International Relations — India-Iran, India-GCC, BRICS, India’s foreign policy, India and West Asia. GS Paper III: Energy security, strategic petroleum reserves, maritime infrastructure. Internal Security / Defence: Maritime chokepoints, Indian Naval strategy, Operation Sankalp. Essay: Energy Security and India’s Strategic Autonomy. SSC Topics: General Awareness — India’s foreign policy, energy, geography of the Indian Ocean. Key terms: Strait of Hormuz, Strategic Petroleum Reserve, AIS, GPS spoofing, IRIS Lavan, SHANTI Bill, Chabahar Port, GCC, Operation Sankalp, Resolution 2817, Pax Silica.