NEW DELHI, India: Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar has called US Secretary of State Marco Rubio to lodge a formal protest after American strikes on merchant vessels off Oman killed three Indian mariners, deepening a diplomatic row between New Delhi and Washington and fuelling domestic criticism of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government.
The call came after New Delhi summoned a senior US diplomat in the Indian capital for a second time in two days over the incident.
“Spoke to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio this evening,” Jaishankar said early Saturday in a post on X.
“I reiterated India’s strong protest at the attacks by the US Navy in the Gulf that killed three Indian mariners. Such lethal actions against commercial shipping are not justified.”
Spoke to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio this evening. I reiterated India’s strong protest at the attacks by the US Navy in the Gulf that killed three Indian mariners. Such lethal actions against commercial shipping are not justified.
— Dr. S. Jaishankar (@DrSJaishankar) June 12, 2026
On Wednesday, three Indian sailors were killed in a US strike on the Palau-flagged MT Settebello off the coast of Oman.
That followed a June 8 strike on the MT Marivex, another Palau-flagged tanker. Omani authorities airlifted 24 Indian sailors off the stricken vessel.
On Thursday, a Guinea-Bissau-flagged tanker was hit in a US strike. New Delhi said its crew, who included 20 Indian sailors, were rescued.
US Deputy Chief of Mission Jason Meeks was summoned twice in New Delhi to hear India’s protest, Jaishankar’s ministry said.
The US State Department did not immediately comment on the call between Jaishankar and Rubio, but had earlier said it was in “direct contact” with the Indian government on the issue.
India is one of the largest contributors of sailors on merchant shipping worldwide, with more than 320,000 active seafarers in 2025, according to the country’s shipping ministry.
That ministry warned on Thursday all Indian sailors “serving onboard Indian and foreign-flagged vessels transiting through conflict-affected waters to exercise the highest degree of caution”.
India’s navy also said Thursday that it had carried out a “high-risk operation” to extract an unexploded missile warhead from the crude oil tanker MT Olympic Life.
The Marshall Islands-flagged tanker was struck off the coast of Oman on May 26, but safely limped to India’s southern port of Kochi.
India’s navy said that the “projectile had penetrated the vessel’s hull, traversed multiple structural compartments and was lodged inside a fuel tank”.
Iran has restricted shipping through the Strait of Hormuz — which normally carries about one-fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas shipments — since the United States and Israel launched attacks on February 28.
The United States has imposed its own naval blockade on Iranian ports.
The deaths of Indian mariners in the Gulf have triggered one of the most serious public disagreements between India and the United States in recent years.
India has reacted strongly to the strikes, arguing that commercial shipping and civilian sailors should never be targeted.
India’s decision to summon the US Embassy’s Deputy Chief of Mission twice within two days underscores the seriousness with which it views the incident.
Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar’s direct call to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio further elevated the issue to the highest diplomatic level.
The dispute comes at a sensitive time for bilateral relations as the incident has intensified domestic political pressure on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government, with opposition parties accusing New Delhi of failing to protect Indian citizens working aboard commercial vessels in conflict zones and demanding a stronger response to the deaths of the mariners.
