India says 'no discussion' with US on combined force to reopen Strait of Hormuz

AFter the US named republic of india among those unnatural by the block off of the sound of Hormuz by islamic republic of iran amid the war, New Delhi said on Monday that it is "not in any bilateral talks” on being part of any coalition to help reopen the waterway.“We are aware this matter is being discussed bilaterally by several countries. We have had no such bilateral discussion yet,” Randhir Jaiswal, spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs, said at a press briefing on Monday, March 16.The strait, a key oil route through which 20% of the world's supplies pass, has been effectively closed under Iranian watch ever since the US and Israel launched strikes on Tehran over two weeks ago.On Sunday, at a press conference, US energy secretary Chris Wright said President Donald Trump was “reaching out” to other countries to enlist help on the Strait of Hormuz issue. “[Trump] named some of the countries — China, Japan, the UK, France and South Korea. He told me some countries have committed to aiding the United States,” Wright told reporters.Asked if he could give more names, Wright said, “I'm not going to leak any news in front of the President. The world depends on the flows through Hormuz, and most importantly, (for) the Asian nations — Japan, Korea, China, Thailand, India — a meaningful part of their total energy supply comes from the Strait of Hormuz. So the whole world would be united in opening the Strait of Hormuz, and we will have the support of other nations to achieve that objective.”Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has told parliament that Tokyo has no plan to dispatch naval vessels to escort oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz.Experts have said that any closure of the Strait of Hormuz restricts trade and impact worldwide oil prices. Since the war began, oil prices have soared to over $100 a barrel.Between the start and end of 2022, approximately 17.8 million to 20.8 million barrels of crude, condensate and fuels flowed through the strait every day, data from Vortexa showed.Members of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), Saudi Arabia, Iran, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, and Iraq, export the majority of their crude through the strait, especially to Asia.Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi has said the strait is closed only to the US and Israeli vessels. "As a matter of fact, the Strait of Hormuz is open. It is only closed to the tankers and ships belonging to our enemies, to those who are attacking us and our allies. Others are free to pass," Araghchi told MS Now in an interview over the weekend.“Of course, many of them prefer not to because of their security concerns. This has nothing to do with us. And at the same time, there are many tankers and ships that are passing through the Strait of Hormuz,” he said.