Commentary
Commentary
After a US military strike killed three Indians on a commercial ship near the Strait of Hormuz, India fears that its concerns are becoming easy to overlook, says think tank researcher Rahul Jaybhay.
US President Donald Trump meets with India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of the G7 summit, Jun 17, 2026, in Evian-les-Bains, France. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
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NEW DELHI: When the United States imposed its blockade of Iranian ports, there was always the question of how far Washington would go to enforce it. India has the painful answer.
The US Navy struck three commercial tankers in the Gulf of Oman in the same week, accusing them of violating the blockade. All three vessels carried Indian mariners aboard, and three on board the MT Settebello were killed on Jun 10.
India responded by summoning the US charge d’affaires twice within a week, while External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar conveyed India’s “strong protest” to US counterpart Marco Rubio. In a statement on Jun 13, Mr Rubio did not take responsibility nor issue an apology, but instead warned commercial shipping vessels to “comply with orders from US forces”.
So far, the Indian government appears to have taken a pragmatic stance: It is not letting the attack jeopardise already tense bilateral ties, nor has it used its levers to convey displeasure beyond the diplomatic route.
A view is emerging in New Delhi that India’s stance does not match its rising geopolitical profile, and that its strategic autonomy is being compromised by the need to toe Washington’s line.
Policymakers, media personalities and Indian strategic elites have expressed concerns about India’s weak response. As one retired naval chief wrote, Mr Jaishankar’s assertion that “such lethal actions against commercial shipping are not justified” failed to “convey the full measure of indignation felt across the country”.
Social media videos of New Delhi’s autorickshaw drivers tearing up promotional materials featuring President Donald Trump, as part of the US’ 250th anniversary celebration, made palpable India’s anger.
India has long been described as an indispensable partner to the US. At the recent Shangri-La Dialogue, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth called India a “critical anchor” in the Indo-Pacific.
Yet the Settebello attack suggests that even when Indian lives are lost, India is expected to accept US actions without any meaningful contrition.
This has revived a Cold War-era suspicion that the US treats Indian concerns as secondary when its priorities are at stake. The Settebello deaths are seen in that context as irreparable damage that the US continues to inflict on India.
This comes at a time when India-US relations are in a steep decline. New rifts in trade negotiations keep developing.
In August 2025, the Trump administration first imposed 25 per cent tariffs on Indian goods, then an additional 25 per cent tariff to punish New Delhi for purchasing Russian oil.
Although India and the US inked an interim trade deal in February, it came with trade-offs seen to curtail India’s self-professed strategic autonomy.
New Delhi cut its oil imports from Russia and promised to purchase more oil from the US and Venezuela. Its full-fledged shift away from Russian supplies was disrupted, as the US waived the last of its temporary sanctions on Russian oil in May to ease the global energy crisis created by the US-Iran war.
Such policies, however, interfere with India’s autonomous choices on oil supplies – making India’s choices contingent on the whims of US oil waivers.
The India-US trade negotiations on the deal are ongoing, though US pressure tactics continue. As the Indian and US negotiators met in June to mull the interim trade framework, the Trump administration threatened to impose a 12.5 per cent tariff on India, along with 53 other economies, due to allegations of forced labour in the supply chain.
The unease goes beyond trade. Mr Trump’s claim that he mediated the May 2025 India-Pakistan limited conflict was one of the first signs of a developing rupture in relations. His claim goes against India’s longstanding position that disputes with Pakistan should be handled bilaterally. Pakistan has also in recent months seen an upswing in diplomatic capital, playing a role in mediating US-Iran ceasefire talks.
India is also worried, after Mr Trump’s summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping this May, by the changing rhetoric around the US-China relationship. The US co-opting China in a so-called “G2” (Group of Two) framework could significantly lower India’s weight in US strategic calculus.
While these pain points seem to be accumulating, the defence aspect of the relationship is still keeping broader US-India ties afloat.
Both countries have continued to conduct annual, complex joint military exercises, such as Yudh Abhyas in September 2025. The US approved the sale of 100 Javelin anti-tank missiles and precision- guided artillery rounds to India in November – the first purchase after being punished for buying Russian oil. They have also continued high-level routinised bureaucratic dialogues, such as the Indian military chiefs’ visits to the US, most recently in April.
The risk is not a total breakdown of the US-India relationship, but the growing disenchantment beyond specific issues and broader divergences on the international order.
Mr Trump has berated allies and partners for freeriding on US security and withdrawn the US from international institutions, further degrading the post-war global order. There is intense debate about whether the US has broken international law in recent military operations, and in the specific case of the MT Settebello, whether it violated the San Remo manual which sets out the rules of engagement for maritime warfare.
The recent scrapping of the “Indo” prefix from the US Indo-Pacific Command, which is responsible for all US military operations and strategy in the region, also adds to the unease.
A name change may appear largely symbolic, but it risks reinforcing a deeper fear: that Indian concerns are becoming easier for the US to overlook.
Rahul Jaybhay is Research Associate at the Council for Strategic and Defense Research in New Delhi, India.
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