US strike on an oil tanker off Oman kills three Indian sailors: civilian shipping attacked, or a blockade enforced?
Three Indian sailors were killed when US forces struck the tanker Settebello off the coast of Oman on June 11, amid the widening US-Iran war over the Strait of Hormuz. India lodged a rare formal protest and summoned a senior US diplomat, demanding an end to attacks on commercial shipping; US Central Command says its forces warned the crew before firing on a vessel that was trying to run Iranian oil through a US naval blockade.
The summary above is a neutral framing. Below, each side reports the same story in its own words — judge for yourself.
New Delhi lodged a rare protest and summoned a senior US diplomat to convey its 'deepest concerns' after three Indian crew were killed aboard the tanker Settebello off Oman. India's foreign ministry said it expects the US 'to take due note of our protest against attacks on vessels carrying Indian seafarers' and called for an end to the 'targeting of commercial shipping and civilian infrastructure in the region.' The head of the UN's International Maritime Organization also condemned the strike.
US Central Command says American forces warned the crew before firing on the ship, which it alleges attempted to breach the US naval blockade with a shipment of Iranian oil. Washington frames the strike as enforcement of its campaign to choke off Iranian oil exports through the Strait of Hormuz during the war, rather than an attack on civilian shipping.
