Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday spoke with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on bringing peace and stability to the Gulf, as the war between Tehran and US-Israel forces turns three weeks old.
Offering him Eid and Nowruz (Persian New Year) greetings, PM Modi also (in general) condemned attacks on critical infrastructure in the region, saying that these "threaten regional stability and disrupt global supply chains".
"Reiterated the importance of safeguarding freedom of navigation and ensuring that shipping lanes remain open and secure," he added in an X post.
This marks the second telephonic conversation between the top leaders of the two nations since the beginning of the war on February 28.
This is in addition to a number of high-level diplomatic talks between the two nations, which led to the Indian-flagged crude oil tanker Jag Laadki becoming the fourth vessel to safely cross the embattled Hormuz Strait and reach Indian shores—after the Liberian-flagged oil tanker Shenlong, and two Indian-flagged LPG tankers Shivalik and Nanda Devi.
Two more Indian-flagged LPG tankers—the Pine Gas and Jag Vasant—anchored near Sharjah, ship-tracking data showed.
Meanwhile, the war seems to show no signs of stopping yet, as Iran continues to retaliate strongly against US-Israel forces. Its latest offensive was against the joint US-UK military base of Diego Garcia—one of its farthest-reaching attacks so far.
This comes after Iran claimed that Natanz, one of its nuclear facilities struck by bunker-buster bombs during the 12-day conflict between Tehran and US-Israel forces, had been struck again.
The US, on the other hand, is seen as slowly diverging from Israel in terms of war objectives, with US President Donald Trump on Friday discussing the possibility of "winding down" as its objectives in the war are nearly complete. Israel, however, has made no indication its war objectives were complete.
“I don’t want to do a ceasefire. You know you don’t do a ceasefire when you’re literally obliterating the other side," he said at the White House on Friday.