India has hailed its direct talks with Iran

FT 15-03-2026

India has hailed its direct talks with Iran as the most effective way to restart shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, after Donald Trump called on countries to send warships to help the US force open the critical waterway for energy markets.

Trump’s call for China, France, the UK and other countries to send “War Ships” to the Strait comes as governments hit by surging energy prices following Tehran’s closure of the waterway weigh up their options, including talks with Iran or military involvement that would risk dragging them into the spiralling Middle East conflict.

India’s foreign minister S Jaishankar told the FT that negotiations between New Delhi and Tehran which allowed for two Indian-flagged gas tankers to pass through the Strait on Saturday were an example of what diplomacy could bring.

“I am at the moment engaged in talking to them and my talking has yielded some results,” he said in an interview. “This is ongoing. If it is yielding results for me, I would naturally continue to look at it.”

Oil prices closed above $100 last week for the first time since August 2022, with some industry analysts expecting prices to keep rising as the conflict drags on into the spring. Iran’s new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, said last week the country’s military would continue to block the narrow waterway, through which roughly one-fifth of the world’s oil and gas used to transit.

France and Italy are among European countries that have opened talks with Tehran about a possible diplomatic solution that would allow for energy shipments to restart.

Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi told CBS on Sunday that Iran was “open” to countries that want to discuss “safe passage of their vessels”.

Jaishankar spoke ahead of his attendance at a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels on Monday that will include discussions on whether to expand the mandate of its Aspides naval mission in the Red Sea to also include the Strait of Hormuz. Currently, the mission is comprised of three warships from France, Italy and Greece.

“Each relationship frankly, in a way stands on its own merits,” he said when asked if European countries could ape India’s arrangement. “So now, it’s very hard for me to compare this with some other relationship which may or may not have these.”

“I’d be happy to share with [EU capitals] what we are doing . . . I know many of them have had conversations [with Tehran] as well,” he added.

Jaishankar said there was no “blanket arrangement” with Iran for Indian-flagged ships and that “every ship movement is an individual happening”.

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The veteran diplomat also denied that Iran had received anything in exchange, and cited a “history of dealing with each other . . . which is the basis on which I engaged”.

“It’s not an exchange issue,” he said. “India and Iran have a relationship. And this is a conflict that we regard as something very unfortunate.”

“These are still early days. We have many more ships there. So while this is a welcome development, there is continuing conversation because there is continued work on that,” he added.