Lethal action against civilian ships not justified: Jaishankar to Marco Rubio

A phone call at the level of Foreign Ministers to lodge a protest signals the seriousness with which India views the incident.

Rubio was in India last month, on a visit to repair ties that dived in 2025 following the Trump administration’s announcement of tariffs on India. India and the US are currently firming up a bilateral trade deal.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who reached France Saturday, will be attending the meeting of the G7 at Evian-les-Bains on June 16-17 and it is likely that he will have a conversation with US President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the summit.

French diplomatic sources said President Emmanuel Macron will host a meeting on West Asia on the summit margins. Leaders from Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Oman are expected to attend. Modi and Trump too have been invited to the meeting – both the US and Iran have indicated that they are nearing a deal to end the crisis in West Asia.

The US attacks on commercial ships sailing near Oman – three Indian seafarers on board the MT Settebello were killed – have led to an uproar in India. US CDA Meeks was summoned to the MEA twice and told in clear terms about the “deep concern over the use of lethal and deadly force against civilian shipping”, that “such actions are unacceptable and undermine the safety, security and stability of international maritime commerce in a sensitive region at a difficult time”.