External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has urged Iran and Israel to “calm down” amid escalating tensions in the Middle East. Tehran launched more than 300 missiles at the other country over the weekend in response to a suspected Israel strike that ended up killing seven Islamic Revolutionary Guards. Indian authorities are closely monitoring the situation and remain in touch with citizens currently in the region.
Jaishankar told reporters, “We have been telling them not to allow this (the situation) to escalate and that this is a crucial region for the global economy…our effort has been to tell both of them to calm down. So yesterday, I made a phone call to both, not only Iran (Foreign Minister) Hossein Amir-Abdollahian but also I called up my Israeli counterpart (Israel Katz),” and he further added, “A large part of India’s shipping passes through this region and also, oil comes from there. This is an enormously sensitive region. So we are very concerned when there is this kind of escalation and hostilities,”
In a separate post, he also stated “Just concluded a conversation with Israel FM Israel Katz. Shared our concern at the developments yesterday. Discussed the larger regional situation. Agreed to stay in touch.”
Iran ended up launching more than 300 drones and missiles at Israel in an unprecedented attack in a major escalation of the long-running covert war between the regional enemies. The Israeli military stated that 99% of the launches were intercepted. At the same time, 170 drones and 30 cruise missiles were taken down before they even reached Israel. However, a few of the missiles did get through and injured 12 people. Iran had repeatedly threatened to retaliate against Israel for a deadly April 1 air strike on its consulate building in in Damascus.
