US-Iran ceasefire? Not for Indian sailors being killed in Hormuz

Three Indian sailors have been killed in strikes on at least three commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz this week, as the United States doubles down on its naval blockade of Iranian ports.

The Indian government on Wednesday summoned a senior US diplomat in New Delhi to demand an explanation after the US military hit a Palau-flagged ship, off Oman’s coast, killing the three Indian sailors. Hours earlier, the US had also bombed another Palau-flagged vessel with 24 Indian sailors on board – also off the coast of Oman.

And on Thursday, US Central Command (CENTCOM) said its forces had “disabled” a third tanker in the Gulf of Oman after the vessel “violated the blockade against Iran by attempting to transport Iranian oil”.

By Friday morning, US President Donald Trump and Iranian officials were both speaking optimistically of the prospect of an agreement to at least extend the fragile ceasefire between their countries, brokered first in April by Islamabad. But for thousands of seafarers, stranded on either side of the Strait of Hormuz, peace remains elusive.

The attacks on ships with Indian sailors is also the latest friction point in the relationship between Washington and New Delhi, which has reached new lows during US President Donald Trump’s second term. Trump is expected to meet his Indian counterpart, Narendra Modi, next week at the Group of Seven (G7) summit in France.

In the past four days, the US military has attacked three vessels carrying Indian merchant navy men on board.

On Monday this week, Manoj Yadav, general secretary of the Forward Seamen’s Union of India, said he received frantic calls from Indian crew aboard the Palau-flagged Marivex ship, requesting help.

“We have fire onboard, we have fire onboard. And vessel is sinking,” a crew member on board the ship said in the message. “US Navy attack, the missile on our engine room. We have hole at the bottom … 24 crew. All crew Indian. Please help quickly.”