Iranian Navy Escorts Indian Tanker Through Strait of Hormuz: Report

Following diplomatic outreach by New Delhi, the Iranian Navy last week escorted an Indian liquefied petroleum gas tanker through the Strait of Hormuz, which has been largely paralysed since one of the worst escalations the region has seen in decades.

The crisis began on February 28, when joint US and Israeli military strikes on Iran, which included the killing of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, triggered a fierce Iranian response. Tehran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps declared the strait closed and began attacking vessels attempting to transit it. The consequences have been swift and severe.

Tanker traffic through the strait dropped by approximately 70%, with over 150 ships anchoring outside its mouth, unwilling to risk the crossing. Several crew members have been killed across targeted vessels, and shipping giants including Maersk, MSC and BP have suspended operations through the corridor entirely. Insurance premiums for ships attempting the route have surged to record highs, and there are confirmed reports that Iran has begun mining parts of the waterway—raising the spectre of a full naval blockade. It is against this backdrop that the Indian tanker’s passage carries particular significance. A senior officer on board the vessel, as quoted by Bloomberg, described a methodical vetting process. Iranian naval authorities contacted the ship by radio, collecting its flag, name, origin and destination ports, and the nationalities of all crew members, who were entirely Indian.

Only after this verification was the tanker guided along a pre-approved route. The ship was one of two Indian vessels that made the crossing and had been anchored in the Persian Gulf for nearly 10 days before receiving clearance on the morning of March 13. Sailors prepared their life rafts before entering the strait that night. On March 5, the IRGC announced it would keep the strait closed only to ships from the US, Israel and their Western allies, a policy that appears to have opened a selective channel for nations like India that have maintained ties with Tehran. Martin Kelly, head of advisory at EOS Risk Group, told Bloomberg that while ships are being permitted to transit, the arrangement serves Tehran’s interests above all else.

The numbers alone explain why the world is watching the Strait of Hormuz with alarm. According to the US Energy Information Administration, oil flows through the strait averaged 20 million barrels per day in 2024—accounting for 27% of all global seaborne oil trade and roughly one-fifth of total world petroleum consumption. The International Energy Agency puts the LNG dependency in equally stark terms: around 20% of global LNG exports transit the strait, with Qatar and the UAE together accounting for nearly all of those flows—and no alternative maritime route exists for either of them. Only Saudi Arabia and the UAE have operational pipelines capable of bypassing the strait, and their combined capacity covers barely a third of total Gulf export flows. The disruption, in other words, cannot simply be rerouted around.

Asia bears the heaviest exposure—approximately 89% of crude oil and 83% of LNG passing through the strait is bound for Asian markets, with China, India, Japan and South Korea together accounting for nearly 70% of all Hormuz crude flows. But as the IEA has noted, the price shock from any prolonged closure would be global—felt in fuel costs, fertiliser prices and power tariffs far beyond the nations directly dependent on the route. Recent transits, including those of the Indian tankers, have followed a narrow corridor between the Iranian islands of Larak and Qeshm, tracing close to the Iranian coast. Iran’s ability to dictate the terms of passage through this corridor gives Tehran extraordinary leverage—not just over its immediate adversaries, but over the energy security of the entire world.