Indian ship carrying Oil Seized by Iran

Today on India's independence day, the disconcerting news has just come that an Indian ship carrying oil from Iraq, was seized by Iranian revolutionary guards in international waters and taken inside Iranian waters. The Iranians have informed India that the ship was'polluting' the ocean and had been detained. This is just a smokescreen and shows two things. Firstly Iran can hold up all shipping through the strait of Hormuz and secondly it is not a friend of India. Its about time the Indian establishment led by the docile and inefficient prime minister Man Mohan Singh realized this.

The seizure in international waters portend a dangerous game by Iran. This has happened despite the US Navy maintaining a task force with an Aircraft Carrier in the area with the ostensible reason of keeping the shipping lanes through the Strait of Hormuz and the Persian gulf free of Iranian interference. Obviously the task force is unable to prevent such things happening. For long the Iranians have threatened to block the strait of Hormuz and choke the supply of oil to the world. Nearly 30% of the world's oil flows through the Persian Gulf.

The situation is fraught with dangerous possibilities and this Iranian action in seizing an Indian ship needs a measured response from India. But with a negligible naval presence in the Persian Gulf, India will be hard put to contain any further Iranian action. The foreign policy based on a sand castle, that Iran is a friend of India needs to be consigned to the depths of the Arabian Sea.