Is India being forced to pick a side in the US-Iran war?
India Today
A US torpedo sank an Iranian warship in the Indian Ocean. The ship had been India's naval guest weeks earlier. Now the world is watching New Delhi very carefully indeed.
The Indian Ocean has always been India's ocean, at least in the strategic imagination of New Delhi. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has a name for this vision. He calls it MAHASAGAR, a framework that positions India as the central pillar of stability across these waters. It is an ambitious idea. But ambition looks different when a US submarine fires a torpedo in your maritime backyard and you say almost nothing in response.
That is precisely what happened. The Iranian frigate Iris Dena sailed into Indian waters just weeks ago as a guest of the Indian Navy's International Fleet Review. Forty nations participated. Warships from across the world docked and sailed together in a display of naval camaraderie. Among them stood the Iris Dena, representing Iran. Then it left. Then America sank it.
The submarine strike happened near Sri Lanka's waters, well within the broader maritime neighbourhood where India claims strategic influence. The stern of the vessel exploded. Eighty sailors died. Dozens more vanished. Survivors were hospitalised in Sri Lanka. It was the first time since the Second World War that a US submarine had sunk an enemy vessel using a torpedo. Washington called it a historic military moment. Iran called it an atrocity at sea.
India called it almost nothing.
The silence from New Delhi is striking, particularly when placed beside the noise coming from elsewhere. Russia condemned the US and Israeli strikes on Iran as unprovoked aggression. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi called for an immediate halt to military operations and positioned Beijing as a potential peacemaker. Moscow and Beijing stepped loudly into the diplomatic arena. India stepped quietly to the side.
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