India on Thursday attended UK-led international talks on reopening the Hormuz Strait amid the war in the Gulf—which has crossed one month—even as Iran assured that its "Indian friends" were safe.
According to Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri was a part of the call, which included foreign ministers and representatives from more than 40 countries.
Speaking at the MEA's weekly briefing, Jaiswal also noted that India and Iran had not yet discussed the topic of toll payments for its ships passing through the Hormuz Strait.
This comes amid Iran's recent comment on X, guaranteeing that its "Indian friends are in safe hands".
It has also reiterated that the strait would continue being controlled by Iran and Oman, the only two countries that "will decide the future of" the embattled strait.
Before the war, the strait had seen about 20 per cent of global trade flow through, which remains at a near-standstill as the war rages on. Notably, the closure of the crucial trade waterway has had a major impact on trade as the war rages on, choking global energy flows and raising oil prices, which has had a direct impact on cost-of-living in many countries.
Indian ships—especially LPG tankers, that are vital to keeping India's LPG crisis at bay—also continue to transit the strait unharmed from time to time, owing to diplomatic talks between the two countries.
What was the agenda for the UK-led talks?
UK Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper declared at the virtual talks that Iran had been able to "hijack an international shipping route to hold the global economy hostage".
In that regard, she explained that the aim of the talks was to assemble a coalition capable of ensuring security in the strait, where Iran has barred ships linked to the US and its allies with threats of naval attacks by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
Cooper also noted that the summit would focus on diplomatic measures as opposed to military options, distancing the talks from US President Donald Trump earlier call for a coalition of nations to wrest control of the waterway from Iran.
This brings up the important question of whether India will commit to the talks and how New Delhi's response will affect Iran's promise of safe passage for Indian vessels through the strait and safety for Indian citizens in Iran.