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Strait of Hormuz ‘deadline’ looms, Jaishankar talks to Iran counterpart Araghchi

India has been dealing with the consequences of the closure of the Strait and only a handful of ships have passed through in the last month. This has led to disruptions in the supplies of gas and energy.

External Affairs Minister S JaishankarExternal Affairs Minister S Jaishankar spoke to Qatari PM, UAE and Iran's foreign minister. (Source: FB)

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar spoke to the foreign ministers of Iran, Qatar and UAE on Sunday as US President Donald Trump threatened to resume attacks on Iran’s energy infrastructure if the Strait of Hormuz is not reopened by Tuesday.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi called up Jaishankar and they discussed the “present situation”.

“Received a call from Foreign Minister @araghchi of Iran. Discussed the present situation,” Jaishankar posted on X, after the call.

According to the Iranian embassy, “Seyed Abbas @araghchi, Foreign Minister of the Islamic Republic of Iran, held a phone conversation with Subrahmanyam Jaishankar @DrSJaishankar, India’s Minister of External Affairs, discussing bilateral relations as well as regional and international developments.”

This was their sixth phone conversation since the war started on February 28.

After his phone conversation with UAE Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Jaishankar said, “Discussed the evolving situation in West Asia with DPM & FM @ABZayed of UAE.”

UAE has been facing attacks from Iran — more than 2,500 in the form of missile and drone strikes in the last five weeks of the US-Israel war on the Islamic Republic.

Jaishankar also spoke to Qatar’s Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani. He posted: “Had a telecon on the ongoing conflict with PM & FM @MBA_AlThani_ of Qatar this evening”. Qatar too had faced Iranian attacks due to the presence of the American military in the country.

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Jaishankar has spoken to the foreign ministers of both UAE and Qatar at least twice in the past one month.

Delhi is engaging with the stakeholders as President Trump on Sunday escalated his threats to bomb Iranian power plants within the next two days.

India has been dealing with the consequences of the closure of the Strait and only a handful of ships have passed through in the last month. This has led to disruptions in the supplies of gas and energy.

Jaishankar’s engagement on Sunday is part of Delhi’s efforts to mitigate the impact of the war in West Asia and stabilise the situation.

Shubhajit Roy, Diplomatic Editor at The Indian Express, has been a journalist for more than 25 years now. Roy joined The Indian Express in October 2003 and has been reporting on foreign affairs for more than 17 years now. Based in Delhi, he has also led the National government and political bureau at The Indian Express in Delhi — a team of reporters who cover the national government and politics for the newspaper. He has got the Ramnath Goenka Journalism award for Excellence in Journalism ‘2016. He got this award for his coverage of the Holey Bakery attack in Dhaka and its aftermath. He also got the IIMCAA Award for the Journalist of the Year, 2022, (Jury’s special mention) for his coverage of the fall of Kabul in August 2021 — he was one of the few Indian journalists in Kabul and the only mainstream newspaper to have covered the Taliban’s capture of power in mid-August, 2021. ... Read More

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