UPSC Key: U.S. airstrikes on Iran, Critical Tiger Habitat and Nuclear Weapons

Not open-ended operation, US doesn’t seek war, says Pentagon

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.

Mains Examination: General Studies II: Effect of policies and politics of developed and developing countries on India’s interests

What’s the ongoing story: The world grappled Sunday with the United States inserting itself into Israel’s war by attacking Iranian nuclear sites, an operation that raised urgent questions about what remained of Tehran’s nuclear program and how its weakened military might respond.

Key Points to Ponder:

• Map Work-Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan

• Why U.S. launched airstrikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities?

• What are the strategic rationale and objectives behind the U.S. launching airstrikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities?

• In terms of international law, specifically the UN Charter and NPT, how legitimate are U.S. actions?

• How can the targeting of nuclear facilities escalate risks of nuclear proliferation across the Middle East?

Key Takeaways:

• Experts warned that worldwide efforts to contain the spread of nuclear weapons by peaceful means would be at stake in the days ahead, while fears of a wider regional conflict loomed large. The price of oil rose as financial markets reacted.

• Iran lashed out at the U.S. for crossing “a very big red line” with its risky gambit to strike the three sites with missiles and 30,000-pound bunker-buster bombs.

• Iran’s U.N. ambassador, Amir Saeid Iravani, told an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council that the U.S. “decided to destroy diplomacy,” and that the Iranian military will decide the “timing, nature and scale” of a “proportionate response.” Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi flew to Moscow to coordinate with close ally Russia.

• Tens of thousands of American troops are based in the Middle East. Ali Akbar Velayati, an adviser to Iran’s supreme leader, said any country used by the U.S. to strike Iran ”will be a legitimate target for our armed forces,” the state-run IRNA news agency reported.

• At first, the Trump administration indicated it wanted to restart diplomatic talks with Iran. “Let’s meet directly,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in an interview with CBS. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the U.S. “does not seek war.”

• The U.S. strikes, confirmed by the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, hit the Fordo and Natanz enrichment facilities, as well as the Isfahan nuclear site. Iran and the U.N. nuclear watchdog said there were no immediate signs of radioactive contamination around them.

• The head of the U.N.’s International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael Mariano Grossi, told the Security Council that no one was in a position to assess the underground damage at Fordo, which is dug deep into a mountain, but visible craters tracked with the U.S. announcements. He said IAEA inspectors should be allowed to look at the sites.

Do You Know:

• The US attacked three key nuclear sites of Iran — Natanz, Isfahan and Fordow — as it joined Israel in its offensive against Iran. All the three sites are crucial to Iran’s controversial nuclear programme that the US, Israel and many other countries see as a threat.

• Natanz: Located about 220 km southeast of Tehran, Natanz is Iran’s main enrichment site that had Uranium enriched up to 60% purity before Israeli strikes destroyed a part of this facility, according to the UN’s nuclear watchdog International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The purity standard matches to a mildly radioactive level but just a small step away from weapons’ grade. Another part of the facility on Iran’s Central Plateau is positioned underground to keep it safe from potential airstrikes and operates groups of centrifuges working together to enrich uranium more quickly.

• Fordow: Buried under a mountain about 100 km southwest of Tehran and guarded by anti-aircraft batteries, Fordow nuclear facility looks to be designed to ward off airstrikes. However, this is not as big as Natanz. According to IAEA, Iran had begun its construction at least in 2007 but informed the UN in 2009 only after the US and allied Western intelligence agencies became aware of its existence. According to military experts, it could be targeted only by “bunker buster” bombs — a term for bombs that can penetrate deep below the ground level before exploding. These are the bombs the US used in the recent strike.

• Isfahan: Isfahan facility is situated some 350 km southeast of Tehran and houses three Chinese research reactors and laboratories linked to Iran’s atomic programme. Thousands of nuclear scientists work here.

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍As Tehran reaches out to Delhi, Modi calls for de-escalation, dialogue

📍India wary about Iran’s n-project: Voted against in 2005, abstained in 2024

📍How Trump’s gamble may affect region, world — and himself

📍Israel-Iran conflict: Why Indian military supplies may not be hit as of now

📍The bog of war

📍What the US entry in Iran-Israel conflicts means for India, world

Over 50 mines may benefit as Sariska’s Critical Tiger Habitat to be redrawn

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.

Mains Examination: General Studies III: Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation, environmental impact assessment.

What’s the ongoing story: A plan drawn up to rationalise the boundary of Sariska Tiger Reserve’s Critical Tiger Habitat (CTH) may offer a lifeline to over 50 marble and dolomite mines that were closed following a Supreme Court order last year due to their proximity to the CTH.

Key Points to Ponder:

• Map Work-Sariska Tiger Reserve

• What did the Supreme Court order in May 2024 regarding mines near Sariska Tiger Reserve?

• What is a Critical Tiger Habitat (CTH)?

• Why are mines near tiger habitats ecologically harmful?

• What larger ecological region is Sariska part of?

• How boundary ambiguities and land demarcation issues impact conservation effectiveness in Sariska?

• Know the role of NGT and Supreme Court in strengthening environmental governance in India.

• How can states ensure responsible transition of mining areas while preserving wildlife corridors?

Key Takeaways:

• If notified as proposed, the new CTH boundaries will retreat in multiple stretches, putting these mines outside the one-kilometre zone from the boundary, where mining and other activity is prohibited.

• The Rajasthan government’s proposal has identified mostly hilly parcels, adding up to 48.39 sq km, as “peripheral degraded areas affected by human activities” that can be excluded from the CTH. To compensate, 90.91 sq km of “quality tiger habitat” in the Sariska buffer will be added to the CTH.

• “These areas moved from the CTH to the buffer will not be part of the sanctuary or national park. This conversion will help foster cordial relations between the local community and the tiger reserve management,” the proposal said

• Of the 100 marble, dolomite, limestone and masonic stone quarries around Sariska, 43 had already been non-operational due to a lack of permits and other reasons, while 57 active mines were closed under the Supreme Court order last May.

‘Rationalising’ Sariska boundaries

Do You Know:

• The Supreme Court order in question came in a suo motu case regarding the issues of unrestricted entry of people on foot and private vehicles inside Sariska Tiger Reserve. In March 2024, the court asked its Central Empowered Committee (CEC) to submit a report on the issue.
Reconstituted in September 2023 under the Environment ministry, the CEC expanded the scope of the report by including other issues such as village relocation, cattle grazing, staff strength and boundary demarcation.

• The issue of mining, however, was only mentioned once in the CEC’s 79-page report: “The illegal mining activities are because of the poor demarcation.”

• After Rajasthan accepted the CEC’s July 2024 report in September, the Supreme Court asked the state in December to complete the boundary rationalisation process within a year, subject to its final approval.

• Asked why the CEC expanded the scope of its report, a member who spoke on condition of anonymity said the committee wanted to “resolve all contentious issues, including boundary rationalisation, that have been pending for too long”.

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍Explained: The history of Supreme Court orders against illegal mining in Sariska reserve

EXPRESS NETWORK

Navy set to commission latest stealth frigate Tamal in Russia in July

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.

Main Examination: General Studies III: Various Security forces and agencies and their mandate.

What’s the ongoing story: The Navy is set to commission its latest stealth multi-role frigate Tamal on July 1 at Russia’s Kaliningrad, making it the eighth in the series of Krivak class frigates inducted from Russia over the past two decades.

Key Points to Ponder:

• Frigate Tamal-know in detail

• What is INS Tamal?

• What is a stealth frigate?

• Under which class of frigates does INS Tamal fall?

• Know the strategic importance of commissioning INS Tamal for India’s maritime capabilities.

• How Tamal’s induction aligns with the Indian Navy’s goal?

• Compare Project 11356 Talwar-class frigates with India’s indigenous P-17A Nilgiri-class in terms of design philosophy.

Key Takeaways:

• Tamal will join the ‘Sword Arm’ of the Navy, the Western Fleet, under the Western Naval Command and is the second ship of the Tushil Class — the upgraded versions of their predecessors, Talwar and Teg classes.

• The commissioning comes six months after the first warship of the Tushil class, INS Tushil, was commissioned at Kaliningrad.

• As part of the contract for construction of four Tushil class warships, India is building two similar frigates as INS Tushil and Tamal called the Triput class at Goa Shipyard Limited with transfer of technology and design assistance from Russia.

• Once the construction of this series of ships is completed, the Navy will be operating 10 ships with similar capabilities and commonality in equipment, weapon and sensor fit over four different classes, the Navy said in a statement Sunday.

Do You Know:

• According to the Navy, Tamal’s construction was closely overseen by an Indian team of specialists from the Warship Overseeing Team stationed at Kaliningrad, under the aegis of the Embassy of India, Moscow. At the Naval Headquarters, the project was steered by the Directorate of Ship Production under the Controller of Warship Production and Acquisition.

• The Navy said that Tamal has been built at Yantar Shipyard in Kaliningrad and is the last warship to be inducted from a foreign source in view of India’s push to be self-reliant in defence. The warship has 26% indigenous components, including the BrahMos long-range cruise missile for targeting both at sea and land.

• Other indigenous systems include Surface Surveillance Radar complex and HUMSA NG Mk II sonar with the anti-submarine weapon firing complex among other weapons and sensors.

• It also features modern communication and data-link systems, navigation equipment and critical infrastructure. BrahMos Aerospace Private Ltd, Bharat Electronics Ltd, Keltron, Nova Integrated Systems from Tata, Elcome Marine, Johnson Controls India were among those involved.

• Upgrades in the warship include vertically launched surface-to-air missiles, improved 100 mm gun, new age EO/IR (Electro-Optical/Infrared) system in addition to the standard 30 MM CIWS (Close-In Weapon System, heavyweight torpedoes, urgent-attack anti-submarine rockets, and a host of surveillance and fire control radars and systems.

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍Three cheers for Indian Navy

GOVT & POLITICS

Rajnath, Doval likely to visit China to attend SCO meeting

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.

Mains Examination: General Studies II: Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and/or affecting India’s Interests.

What’s the ongoing story: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval are likely to travel to China for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) meetings.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What is Shanghai Cooperation Organisation?

• What kind of a grouping is the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation?

• Know the members and observer countries in Shanghai Cooperation Organisation

• Map Work-Mark Shanghai Cooperation Organisation member countries with their capital

• Is India a part of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation?

• When did India become permanent member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation?

• What is the importance of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation for India?

• Under what circumstances did India enter the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation?

• How does membership of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation help India?

• How does global geopolitics play out for Shanghai Cooperation Organisation and India?

• How does it play out in the India-Pakistan or India-China relationship?

• “If the Quad is India’s diplomacy in the Indo-Pacific, the SCO represents its diplomacy in the Eurasian landmass”-Discuss

Key Takeaways:

• While Singh is likely to travel to Qingdao from June 25-27, Doval is likely to travel to the country from June 24-26, sources said.

• This will be their first meeting of Singh and Doval with their Chinese counterparts since the military hostilities between India and Pakistan in May this year following India’s Operation Sindoor launched in retaliation to the Pahalgam terror attack.

• The Indian Armed Forces intercepted and neutralised a range of high-tech foreign weapons used by Pakistan, including Chinese-origin PL-15 air-to-air missiles and Turkish Byker YIHA III Kamikaze drones.

• Both the Defence Minister and NSA level meetings will also witness participation from Pakistan as well. Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khwaja Asif and the country’s NSA and DG ISIS, Lt Gen Asim Malik are also expected to attend.

• China is the host of the SCO leaders’ Summit in Tianjin, and these meetings are preparatory for the leaders’ meeting to be hosted by President Xi Jinping.

• This comes in the context of repairing bilateral ties that nosedived after Chinese incursions in 2020 triggered a military standoff along the Line of Actual Control in eastern Ladakh.

• Doval had travelled to Beijing in December last year when India and China agreed on a set of “six consensus” including resumption of the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra, trans-border river cooperation and Nathula border trade. This was announced by the two sides following talks in Beijing between NSA Doval and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi who are also the Special Representatives (SRs). That was the first meeting of the SRs since frictions emerged in the Western Sector of the India-China border areas in 2020.

Do You Know:

• According to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization’s website, ‘the SCO is a permanent intergovernmental international organization established on June 15, 2001 in Shanghai (PRC) by the Republic of Kazakhstan, the People’s Republic of China, the Kyrgyz Republic, the Russian Federation, the Republic of Tajikistan and the Republic of Uzbekistan. Its predecessor was the mechanism of the Shanghai Five.’

• In 2002, the Charter of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization was signed at the meeting of the Council of Heads of States in St. Petersburg, which entered into force on September 19, 2003. It is a statute that stipulates the goals, principles, structure and major areas of activities of the organization.
The goals of the SCO are:

• To strengthen mutual trust, friendship and good-neighbourliness between the Member States;

• To encourage the effective cooperation between the Member States in such spheres as politics, trade, economy, science and technology, culture, education, energy, transport, tourism, environmental protection, etc;

• To jointly ensure and maintain peace, security and stability in the region; and

• To promote a new democratic, fair and rational international political and economic international order.

• The SCO countries includes:
10 Member States — the Republic of India, the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Republic of Kazakhstan, the People’s Republic of China, the Kyrgyz Republic, the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, the Russian Federation, the Republic of Tajikistan, the Republic of Uzbekistan, the Republic of Belarus
2 Observer states – the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, Mongolia.

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍What is the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Summit?

Previous year UPSC Mains Question Covering similar theme:
📍Terrorist activities and mutual distrust have clouded India-Pakistan relations. To what extent the use of soft power like sports and cultural exchanges could help generate goodwill between the two countries? Discuss with suitable examples.(UPSC CSE GS2, 2015)

THE IDEAS PAGE

The next steps for change

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Economic and Social Development-Sustainable Development, Poverty, Inclusion, Demographics, Social Sector Initiatives, etc.

Mains Examination: 

• General Studies I: Poverty and developmental issues, urbanization, their problems and their remedies.

• General Studies II: Issues relating to poverty and hunger

• General Studies III: Inclusive growth and issues arising from it

What’s the ongoing story: Ashok Gulati and Ritika Juneja Writes: As Prime Minister Narendra Modi completes 11 years in office, it’s time for a stocktaking of his government’s achievements at the macro level, and a framing of the challenges that lie ahead. For comparison, we also look at the UPA government’s record from 2004 to 2014.

Key Points to Ponder:

• What is Poverty?

• How poverty is defined by different international institutions??

• Classifications of poverty-Know in Detail

• Poverty estimation in India-How Poverty is defined in India?

• Alagh Committee (1979) Lakdawala Committee (1993), Tendulkar Committee (2009), Rangarajan committee (2012) and their poverty estimation.

• ‘India now has poverty rates around 4–4.5%’-Do you agree that food and fertiliser subsidies should be re-targeted or reduced?

• Know the fiscal impact of maintaining large food and fertiliser subsidies, and its effect on public investment in critical sectors.

• How household income improvements call for aligning NFSA coverage and food subsidy levels with updated consumption data?

• Know the role of schemes like PM-PRANAM and One Nation One Fertiliser in fostering sustainable farming practices.

• How do discrepancies in NPK usage ratios provide insight into ecological inefficiencies in farm input subsidies?

Key Takeaways:

• In 2014, when PM Modi assumed office, India’s nominal GDP stood at $2.04 trillion, up from $709 billion in 2004 when the UPA came to power. This was a jump of 2.8 times in 10 years. This year, India’s economy is likely to be $4.19 trillion – it has almost doubled in 11 years.

• India is poised to become the fourth-largest economy globally, just behind the US ($30.5 trillion),
China ($19.2 trillion) and Germany ($4.74 trillion). Yet, the nominal GDP in US dollars tells only a part of the story. A more appropriate criterion to measure the economic welfare of people will be to look at GDP and per capita income in purchasing power parity (PPP) terms — what a US dollar can buy in a country.

• In PPP terms, India’s progress has been remarkable: From $2.75 trillion in 2004 to $6.45 trillion in 2014, and soaring to $17.65 trillion in 2025. This positions India as the world’s third-largest economy in PPP terms, behind China ($40.72 trillion) and the US ($30.51 trillion).

• India’s per capita income (in PPP terms) rose from $2,424.2 in 2004 to $4,935.5 in 2014 and now stands at $12,131.8 in 2025. This improvement corresponds with India’s improved global ranking on this criteria —from 181st in 2004, to 166th in 2014, and 149th in 2025. However, despite this progress, India still ranks lowest among G20 countries in both per capita GDP ($2,878) and PPP terms ($12,131.8).

• China’s per capita income (in PPP) stands at $28,978. The US leads with $89,105. Closer home, India trails even Sri Lanka ($14,970) and Bhutan ($17,735), though it remains ahead of Pakistan ($6,950.5) and Bangladesh ($10,261.1) in 2025 (IMF).

• Nevertheless, the macroeconomic milestones are indeed impressive and India needs to stay the course. But there is always one question associated with such macro trends: How far is this growth inclusive? The Gini coefficient, a measure of income inequality, has shown only modest shifts over the past two decades.

Do You Know:

• The food subsidy budget for FY26 is slated to be Rs 2.03 lakh crore. India is giving free food (rice or wheat, 5kg/person/month) to more than 800 million people. With extreme poverty falling to just 5.3 per cent, there is a need to rationalise this food subsidy by giving beneficiaries food coupons (digital wallet) to buy nutritious food — pulses, milk, eggs — from designated stores.

• The value of food coupons for the bottom, say 15 per cent of the population, could be Rs 700/family/month, and this amount can come down to Rs 500/family/month based on the income of the identified beneficiaries. This will help plug leakages, diversify diets, promote nutrition, and diversify the production basket.

• Farmers can use these coupons to buy chemical fertilisers or bio-fertilisers or do natural farming. The imbalanced use of N, P, and K can be corrected, leakages plugged and innovations in products and practices promoted, only if the government deregulates this sector. This task is overdue, and if the Modi government can do it now, it will help streamline the agri-food sector to a large extent.

• The government would need to identify tenant farmers. The task also requires triangulation of several sets of data, and communicating with farmers in advance and earning their trust. This is a political exercise, which must precede policy change. No one else is a better communicator in the political sphere today than the Prime Minister himself.

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍Poverty debates in India

📍Declining poverty, and the data that shows it

EXPLAINED

When a nuclear site is attacked

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.

Mains Examination: General Studies II: Effect of policies and politics of developed and developing countries on India’s interests

What’s the ongoing story: Nuclear facilities, by their very nature, store a lot of radioactive substances. These substances are stored in carefully designed containers and the facilities are constructed in ways to minimise the risk of leaks. An attack can disrupt these safety mechanisms.

Key Points to Ponder:

• How nuclear weapons are different from other bombs?

• What kind of threat does an attack on enrichment facilities primarily pose?

• What about radiation leak?

• Why is a nuclear explosion highly unlikely in these strikes?

• Explain the nature and scale of radiological threats posed by attacks on nuclear enrichment facilities, not nuclear reactors.

• Why conventional strikes cannot cause a nuclear explosion, but can result in chemical and radiological contamination?

• How the IAEA assesses and monitors radiation levels in aftermaths of military attacks on nuclear sites?

Key Takeaways:

• The United States attacked three key nuclear installations in Iran on Sunday morning (June 22), with President Donald Trump claiming that all the three facilities had been “completely and totally obliterated.” The US attacks follow a series of missile strikes by Israel last week, also targeting Iran’s nuclear installations, most notably Natanz, which was a target of Sunday’s US bombing as well.

• Sunday’s attacks targeted Fordow, Isfahan and Natanz nuclear facilities, all of them key uranium enrichment sites that house the infrastructure to convert natural uranium into highly-enriched uranium (HEU) that can potentially be used to make a nuclear bomb.

• The attacks have led to fears of a major nuclear disaster, in the form of nuclear explosion, or at least largescale nuclear radiation leaks. However, an explosion is not expected under these circumstances, and thankfully, no major radiation leak has been detected so far.

Do You Know:

• Enrichment is the process of increasing the concentration of Uranium-235 (U235) in a sample of natural uranium which is primarily — more than 99 per cent — Uranium-238 (U238). It is only U-235 that is fissile, meaning its nucleus is susceptible to being broken (fissionable) through a process that produces energy, and is capable of sustaining a chain reaction. An enrichment of 3-5 per cent is adequate for producing electricity in nuclear power stations, but for making nuclear weapons, HEU, which has concentrations of 90 per cent or more of U235, is required.

• The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the global nuclear watchdog, said it had not seen any increase in ‘off-site radiation levels’ following Sunday’s attacks. Iran has also said that there was no risk to public health because of the attacks.

• A nuclear bomb is very different from the traditional explosives and chemicals used in warfare. Traditional bombs use a variety of chemicals that are generally designed to explode on impact, like when they are dropped. These chemical explosives can go off in other circumstances as well, like when they are exposed to heat or friction. These are explosive in themselves, and can get triggered and cause damage even when they are not used in the way they are designed to. Specifically, stored chemical explosives can lead to blasts when these are struck by other weapons.

• Nuclear weapons, or nuclear material, do not behave like that. A nuclear bomb causes damage not by exploding the way traditional bombs do, but by releasing very high amounts of energy in a very short span of time. This large amount of energy sets off a series of processes that cause widespread damage.

• Nuclear weapons are designed to detonate mid-air, not on impact like traditional explosives. They release a massive amount of energy in a few milliseconds, which heats up the surrounding air to millions of degrees Celsius, leading to the formation of what are known as blast waves, an expanding bubble of extremely hot air. Most of the damage is caused by these blast waves.

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍The ‘bunker buster’ bombs and the bombers that dropped them

ECONOMY

Strait of Hormuz closure: What’s in store for energy markets, India’s oil imports

Syllabus:

Preliminary Examination: Current events of national and international importance.

Mains Examination: General Studies II: Effect of policies and politics of developed and developing countries on India’s interests.

What’s the ongoing story: Following US airstrikes at Iranian nuclear facilities, Iran’s parliament Sunday approved a motion calling for the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a critical oil transit choke point in global energy flows. To be sure, it is up to Iran’s Supreme National Security Council to decide on whether or not to go ahead to try and choke the Strait of Hormuz.

Key Points to Ponder:

• Map Work-Strait of Hormuz

• What is the Strait of Hormuz?

• The Strait of Hormuz connects which two water bodies?

• Why is the Strait of Hormuz strategically important for India?

• Which international law governs freedom of navigation through straits used for international navigation like Hormuz?

• How does the Israel-Iran conflict pose a threat to global oil and gas flows?

• India’s dependency on oil imports through the Strait of Hormuz-know in detail

• What are the potential economic consequences of a conflict-induced blockade of the Strait of Hormuz especially for India?

Key Takeaways:

• Iran has in the past threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz on multiple occasions, but has never actually done it. Notwithstanding that, the heightened risk of the closure is bound to raise concerns globally, including in India, particularly with regard to oil and gas supply security, and could lead to a jump in energy prices.

• The global energy market has had its eyes set on the ongoing Israel-Iran conflict as the West Asian region is a critical cog in the international oil and gas flows. Indian refiners, too, have been watching the developments closely as the region accounts for a significant share of India’s energy imports. Also, any major disruption in West Asian oil and gas exports could lead to a surge in oil and gas prices in the international market, which would also hurt India, which is counted among the world’s largest oil and gas importers with high import dependency levels.

• To be sure, the conflict has so far not really disrupted physical oil and gas flows from the region, although shipping and insurance rates have gone up notably due to higher geopolitical risk premium, according to industry sources. There are also reports that a few shipping lines are reassessing routes in the region. This could further add to the transportation cost to and from the region.

Do You Know:

• Strait of Hormuz is a critical narrow waterway between Iran and Oman, and connects the Persian Gulf with the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea. The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) calls it the “world’s most important oil transit chokepoint”, with around one-fifth of global liquid petroleum fuel consumption and global liquefied natural gas (LNG) trade transiting the strait. Much of India’s oil from key West Asian suppliers like Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE reaches Indian ports via the Strait of Hormuz. A bulk of India’s LNG imports, which come predominantly from Qatar, also come through this vital choke point

The Strait of Hormuz connects the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)

• India is the world’s third-largest consumer of crude oil and depends on imports to meet over 85 per cent of its requirement. The country is also among the top importers of LNG, depending on imports to meet around half of its natural gas demand. India’s largest source of crude oil is Russia, followed by West Asian suppliers Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE. India also buys oil from other countries in the region like Kuwait, Qatar, and Oman. Indian refiners do not purchase Iranian crude as Iran’s energy sector is under US sanctions.

Other Important Articles Covering the same topic:

📍Iran moves to block Strait of Hormuz: What this will mean for India, Tehran, world, in 4 points

For any queries and feedback, contact priya.shukla@indianexpress.com

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