Insecurity In  Strait Of Hormuz Due To US-Israel Attacks, Iran Tells India

By Shakir Husain

NEW DELHI, March 11 (Bernama) -- Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told India’s External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar on Tuesday that insecurity in the Strait of Hormuz was caused by US and Israeli attacks on his country.

Araghchi conveyed this during a telephone conversation with his Indian counterpart on Tuesday, the Iranian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.

The two foreign ministers discussed regional developments and "the consequences of the US and Israeli regime's military aggression on the security of shipping and vessel traffic through the Strait of Hormuz".

Tanker traffic through the vital sea passage along Iran’s southern border has dropped sharply amid escalating military hostilities, as Tehran has threatened to target vessels linked to the United States and Israel.

Global crude prices have soared due to the disruptions to energy trade and fears of further oil and gas crunch.

The Iranian foreign minister stated that "the insecure situation and problems arising for shipping in the Persian Gulf are a result of the aggressive and destabilising actions of the United States, and the international community must hold the US accountable for this situation," the ministry statement noted.

Araghchi highlighted the bombing of the "Shajareh Tayyebeh" (The Good Tree) school in the city of Minab in southern Iran on Feb 28 when the US and Israel began their attacks on Iran.

At least 170 people, mostly children, were killed in the school bombing.

Araghchi told Jaishankar that the world has a "responsibility to condemn" the attacks.

"The foreign minister described the aggressive act by the US and the Israeli regime as a violation of the fundamental principles and rules of the United Nations Charter and international law, noting that all governments have a responsibility to condemn this military aggression and blatant law-breaking," the Iranian ministry said.

Jaishankar, in a post on X, said he had a "detailed conversation" with Iran's foreign minister on the latest developments regarding the ongoing conflict."

However, the Indian foreign minister did not provide details of what was discussed.

-- BERNAMA