West Asia conflict opens new fronts on Day 6: Key takeaways

Meanwhile in India, five days after the killing of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, India’s Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri Thursday offered condolences at the Embassy of Iran in New Delhi.

Here are five key takeaways from Day 6 of the conflict:

1) India responds to distress call from Iranian warship

The Indian Navy sent its aircraft and ships to augment the search and rescue efforts for IRIS Dena that was hit by an American torpedo Wednesday while it was on its voyage back to Iran after participating in exercise MILAN and the International Fleet Review in Visakhapatnam.

According to a Navy statement, the Navy launched its SAR efforts commencing with a long-range maritime patrol aircraft P8I at 1000 hr on Wednesday to augment the search efforts led by Sri Lanka.

Healthcare workers unload the bodies of Iranian sailors in Galle, Sri Lanka (AP Photo)

Meanwhile, a second Iranian warship is headed towards Sri Lanka Thursday, just a day after the strike that killed 87 people. Colombo said it is considering its response after the vessel sought entry into Sri Lankan waters.

Sri Lankan authorities said the ship had requested emergency assistance and was waiting near the maritime boundary, outside the country’s territorial waters.

2) First attack reported in Azerbaijan

Drone attacks damaged the terminal building of an airport near the Iran-Azerbaijan border and injured four people, Azerbaijani authorities said. Officials described it as the first strike on the country since the conflict began.

This image shows damage to a school in Julfa following what Azerbaijan’s FM says was a drone attack carried out by Iran. (AP Photo)

After the attack, Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement that Iranian drones attacked its exclave of Nakhchivan and damaged an airport building. President Ilham Aliyev accused Iran of carrying out “a groundless act of terror and aggression,” and said his military has been told to prepare and implement retaliatory measures.

Iran’s general staff of the armed forces denied it had launched a drone toward Azerbaijan’s territory.

3) US Senate blocks attempt to limit Trump’s war powers

Republicans in the US Senate rejected a resolution that would have required congressional approval for continued US military action against Iran.

The Senate voted 53-47 against the bipartisan War Powers resolution. The House of Representatives plans to vote on a similar measure in a couple of days.

Senior US officials said the United States would begin striking deeper targets inside Iran and described the operation as still in its early phase.

4) UK to send 4 more Typhoon fighter jets to Qatar

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Thursday that four additional Typhoon fighter jets would be sent to Qatar as the conflict in the Middle East escalates, insisting that the UK has the right ⁠plan ​for defence.

This comes after US President Donald Trump criticised Starmer for failing ‌to provide sufficient support for his strikes on Iran.

Starmer told a press conference that Britain had the right plan and had already been pre-deploying military equipment across the region before the start ⁠of the ⁠war.

“My focus is providing calm, level-headed leadership in the national ⁠interest,” ‌Starmer said. “That means deploying our ​military and diplomatic strength to ‌protect our people, and it means having the strength to stand firm ‌by our values ​and ​our ​principles, no matter the pressure to do otherwise.”

On India’s position in the conflict, PM Modi Thursday that “no issue can be resolved through military conflict alone” and that New Delhi will continue to support the swift end of conflicts and every effort towards peace, whether it takes place in West Asia or Ukraine.

5) Stock market & oil prices

Stocks again fell on Wall Street Thursday, as oil prices rose further because of the war with Iran. The S&P 500 fell 0.6% in morning trading, coming off a frenetic start to the week that saw financial markets worldwide swerve sharply. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 645 points, or 1.3%, as of 10:45 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was trading 0.3% lower. Financial markets are again following the cue of oil prices.

Oil prices extended ⁠their rally on Thursday, with Brent climbing ‌3% and WTI rising 4%. They have both jumped 16% since the war started on ​Saturday.

A benchmark European gas ‌price gained around 3% on Thursday. It has surged nearly 60% so far this week.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said his country could halt gas supplies to Europe right now, amid the spike in energy prices from ‌the Iran crisis.

Qatar, which provides 20% ​of the world’s ​LNG supply, ​halted gas production earlier this week due to the conflict. Other major producers such as the US and Australia have little spare capacity to offset this lost supply, according to Reuters.