Amid Iran's re-closure of the Strait of Hormuz, an Indian-flagged oil tanker successfully transited the vital waterway, while at least four other ships turned back. According to ships monitoring data, the oil tanker named Desh Garima crossed the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday.
This tanker of Shipping Corporation of India Limited (SCI) is the 10th Indian flag ship to transit this route since the beginning of March. According to Marinetraffic, till Saturday evening this tanker was moving in the Gulf of Oman.
The data also showed that oil tankers Sanmar Herald, Desh Vaibhav and Desh Vibhor as well as cargo vessel Jag Arnav changed their course near the blockage point. With this, the number of Indian flagged ships in the Persian Gulf has increased to 14. State-owned SCI maintains Desh Vaibhav and Desh Vibhor, while Sanmar Herald is operated by Sanmar Shipping and Jag Arnav is operated by Great Eastern Shipping Company.
According to United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations, a tanker reported being fired upon by two boats of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps about 20 nautical miles north-east of Oman. It is believed that due to this reason the Indian ships changed their route. According to tankertrackers.com, two Indian-flagged ships, including a supertanker carrying Iraqi crude, had to turn back after the firing.
Indian flag ships carrying crude oil in the Strait of Hormuz had to change their course after Iranian military forces opened fire on them on Saturday. India took a tough stand on this incident and summoned the Iranian Ambassador and lodged a protest. According to the Ministry of External Affairs, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri informed Iran's Ambassador Mohammad Fataali about India's deep concern over this firing incident.
Let us tell you that after the attacks on Iran by America and Israel about six weeks ago, Tehran had stopped the movement of ships in the Strait of Hormuz to a great extent. This move led to an increase in oil prices in the international market.
Several ships attempted to pass through the waterway after Tehran announced it was open to commercial traffic on Friday, but Iran closed the waterway again on Saturday, accusing the US of violating an agreement between the two sides.
In the meeting with the Iranian Ambassador, the Foreign Secretary asked him to convey India's side of the incident to the Iranian authorities. Expressing concern over this serious incident of firing on merchant ships, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement, the Foreign Secretary urged the Ambassador to convey India's point of view to the Iranian authorities and to quickly initiate the process of restoring the safe passage of ships coming to India through the Strait of Hormuz.
