Ships stranded at Hormuz, energy crunch at home: How India’s U.S.-Israel tilt is testing ties with Iran

While millions of barrels of oil flow to China via the Strait of Hormuz, India — Tehran's old ally — is yet to secure a safe passage for its ships stuck in the critical waterway as New Delhi's deepening ties with U.S. and Israel strain relations with Iran.

Two Indian ships carrying liquefied petroleum gas transited the Strait of Hormuz on Friday, but this does not signify a "blanket arrangement" with Tehran, Indian Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar told The Financial Times on Monday.

Jaishankar also denied claims that the safe passage for the two vessels was part of a quid pro quo deal with Iran, after New Delhi sent around 100 Iranian naval officers home on a special flight on Saturday, according to multiple media reports.

India — the world's third‑largest importer of oil and second‑largest consumer of liquefied petroleum gas — is grappling with rising energy costs and panic‑buying amid tightening supplies triggered by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

But a growing undercurrent of tensions with Tehran, combined with a widening public perception that New Delhi is tilting toward Washington, is weakening India's ability to secure safe passage for its energy supplies, experts said.

Over the past 80 years, since Independence, India has largely pursued a policy of "neutrality and engagement with all sides." But New Delhi's tilt toward the U.S. and Israel is now "obvious," said K.C. Singh, a former Indian ambassador to the UAE and Iran, speaking to "Inside India."

He added that a widely circulated image of Prime Minister Narendra Modi hugging Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a visit by the Indian leader to Israel last month "will stick in the Persian mind" and is likely to affect India's leverage with Tehran.

During a phone call between the Indian and Iranian foreign ministers on Friday, Tehran asked members of BRICS — where India holds the presidency — to condemn the U.S.-Israel attacks on Iran. This places New Delhi in a tight spot, analysts say, as it seems comfortable aligning with Washington and Tel Aviv.

"It is not a coincidence that PM Modi addressed the Israeli parliament just three days before the U.S.-Israeli attack on Iran, and was hailed by PM Netanyahu as a 'brother,'" Raymond E. Vickery, Jr., senior associate at global foreign‑policy think tank CSIS told CNBC in an email.

India is the only founding BRICS member that has not condemned the attack on Iran or the killing of Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, during the U.S.-Israel military strikes on Feb. 28. Though India's Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri did sign a condolence book in the Iranian embassy in India on Mar. 5, per local media reports.

"India has bought into the U.S.-Israel contention that Iran is a fount of radical Islamic terrorism," Vickery, Jr. added. But he noted that "India will try to salvage what it can from its Iranian relationship through calls for peace and by seeking special protection for Indian shipping and nationals."

Even amid isolated moments of cooperation, the dissonance between Tehran and New Delhi has been hard to miss.

On Wednesday, India co‑sponsored a resolution at the U.N. Security Council condemning the "egregious" attacks by Iran on Gulf Cooperation Council countries and demanding the "immediate cessation of all attacks by Tehran." Iran dismissed the resolution as "unjust and unlawful," arguing that it failed to acknowledge U.S.-Israeli aggression.

"I wouldn't say India's relations with Iran have soured, but New Delhi is clearly leaning in favour of the U.S., Israel and the Gulf Arab states," said Chietigj Bajpaee, senior research fellow for South Asia at Chatham House, in an email to CNBC. Bajpaee added that bilateral ties have been steadily downgrading.

New Delhi has reduced funding for the Chabahar Port project in Iran after the U.S. declined to extend sanctions waivers for India's operation of the port terminal beyond April 2026, Bajpaee said. India has also stopped purchasing Iranian crude following the collapse of the Iran nuclear deal under the first Trump administration.

Last week, leaders of India's opposition parties questioned the government's reluctance to condemn the attacks on Iran, arguing that the Modi administration's foreign‑policy choices are compromising India's "energy security."

— CNBC's Anniek Bao contributed to this report.