India calls Houthi strikes on Saudi Arabia a threat to Bab-el-Mandeb shipping

India on 15 September condemned Houthi attacks on Saudi territory and said the strikes threaten free passage through the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait. Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal told the regular briefing that New Delhi was “deeply concerned” by the Red Sea escalation and by blockades at both Bab-el-Mandeb and the Strait of Hormuz. “Such attacks undermine regional stability and threaten freedom of navigation through the Strait of Bab-el-Mandeb,” he said. “These are obviously unacceptable to us.”

External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar had already raised the Houthi file with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan on the sidelines of the BRICS summit. Jaiswal said that conversation covered regional and international points, including the latest hits on Saudi civilian infrastructure and economic assets. Saudi aircraft have answered with missile strikes inside Yemen.

The geography is the reason New Delhi is talking. Iran-linked fighting has already made Hormuz a high-risk lane. Saudi crude that used to move through the Gulf has been pushed onto the East-West pipeline toward the Red Sea. Houthi attacks on that pipeline forced a temporary shutdown and, on some estimates, touched about 5 percent of global oil supply. Bab-el-Mandeb then becomes the next gate. If both gates are unsafe, cargo that India buys and seafarers that India flags sit in the same crossfire.

The tanker off Oman

The Panama-flagged oil tanker El Gaia was hit off the Omani coast on 13 September. Twenty-three crew were aboard, 14 of them Indian. Omani teams pulled 13 Indians off the ship. One Indian remains missing. Search and rescue is continuing with Muscat’s help. The Indian embassy is in contact. Jaiswal thanked Oman by name.

Accounts of the weapon differ. Omani officials have pointed to a mine in Hormuz. The U.S. military has said the ship was struck by an Iranian missile last month and by a drone over the weekend. Two sailors in total were reported missing after the latest hit near the Musandam Peninsula. The ship was being towed toward Oman.

“The targeting of commercial shipping, targeting of seafarers, civilians and civilian infrastructure in the region is unacceptable to us,” Jaiswal said. “We also urge that free and safe navigation and flow of commerce through international waterways in the region be restored at the earliest.” He added that energy cargoes to India have not stopped. That sentence is the one refiners will test against arrival logs, not against a briefing.

What India can and cannot do

India is a large buyer of Gulf crude and a large supplier of crews. It is not a combatant in the Iran war and not a party to the Saudi-Houthi fight. The tools on the table are escorts, route advice, insurance talks and diplomacy with Riyadh, Muscat, Tehran and the parties that can talk to Sana’a. Jaiswal did not announce a naval change. He announced a standard: ships, crews and civilian plants are not targets, and both chokepoints should reopen.

Until that happens, the risk premium stays in the freight market and in the insurance market. The missing Indian sailor off Oman is the human line under that premium. Thirteen colleagues made it to shore. One has not.