India bars new seafarer deployments through Strait of Hormuz
Why it matters: Two Indian sailors were killed in three days, and a union says more than 15,000 others remain west of the strait.
India ordered shipowners, ship managers and recruitment firms not to place Indian seafarers on vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz until further notice, citing a sharply worsening security situation in the Persian Gulf. The Directorate General of Shipping issued the order late Wednesday after two Indian seafarers were killed in attacks on ships in the region over the past three days. The regulator also told vessel masters to maintain heightened vigilance in the Persian Gulf, Hormuz and nearby waters and to keep monitoring navigational warnings. New Delhi separately protested to Iran and summoned its deputy ambassador over one of the deaths. India is the world’s third-largest supplier of seafarers, with more than 300,000 working globally.