Washington, June 13: US President Donald Trump accused Iran of carrying out drone attacks against Indian ships leaving the Strait of Hormuz, describing the alleged action as “totally unacceptable”, while Tehran rejected the charge as “baseless”.
Three vessels with Indian crew came under attack off the Oman coast this week. One of them resulted in the death of three Indian seafarers on Wednesday.
“Their (Iran’s) totally rebuffed Drone attack last night against Indian Ships leaving the Hormuz Strait is TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE,” Trump claimed in a post on Truth Social on Friday.
In the same post, Trump also accused Iran of leaking the terms of the peace deal to the media that had nothing to do with the points under discussion.
Iran vehemently rejected Trump’s allegation.
“The US president’s accusation against Iran regarding an Indian vessel in the Strait of Hormuz is simply baseless,” the Iranian Embassy in India said in a social media post late Friday night.
“It is an attempt to divert public attention from the brutal fact that the US has attacked 3 Indian vessels in less than a week and killed 3 innocent Indian sailors. That’s pathetic!” it said.
Trump’s remarks came after India summoned the Charge d’Affaires of the US Embassy in New Delhi to protest against US attacks on commercial ships carrying Indian nationals near the Oman coast.
India has described the attacks on commercial vessels as “deeply worrisome” and it has strongly taken up the matter with the US.
In the past week, at least three ships with Indian seafarers onboard have been targeted by US forces, resulting in the deaths of three mariners.
India lodged a strong protest with the US, asserting that such lethal actions against commercial ships were not justified.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar spoke to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Friday and lodged a strong protest regarding the US Navy attacks in the Gulf that killed three Indian mariners.
Downed Iranian drones targeting ships in Hormuz: CentCom
The US Navy said it has downed multiple one-way attack drones launched by Iran to target commercial ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz.
“Iran launched multiple one-way attack drones in an attempt to strike commercial ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz,” the US Central Command said in a post on X late Friday evening.
It said US forces downed all of them in recent hours, and traffic flow through the strait continues unimpeded.
“The international trade corridor remains open for transit,” the CentCom said.
The CentCom said US forces continue to strictly enforce a blockade against Iran, redirecting 139 compliant commercial ships and disabling nine non-compliant ships.
Violations of US blockade in Hormuz will not be tolerated: Rubio
Rubio has said that any violation of the American blockade and illicit transport of Iranian oil through the Straits of Hormuz will not be tolerated, an official statement said Saturday.
Rubio conveyed this to Jaishankar, who spoke with him on Friday.
“The Secretary stressed that all commercial vessels should immediately comply with orders from US forces as they seek to uphold peace and security in the Strait,” State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott said.
Rubio underscored that violations of the US blockade and the illicit transport of Iranian oil will not be tolerated, Pigott said in a statement here. (PTI)
