NEW DELHI : India on last Thursday (07-05-2026) said that 11 Indian vessels have exited the Strait of Hormuz, while 13 ships continue to remain in the Persian Gulf. Addressing a weekly media briefing, MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal was asked about reports suggesting that Iranian ships may be using alternative routes through Pakistani and Indian territorial waters to bypass a potential US blockade, and whether such movement requires special clearance from Indian authorities.<\/p>\n
Responding to the query, Jaiswal said that vessels are free to operate in international waters without requiring permission. \u201cRegarding the reports that ships might be taking routes through Indian territorial waters to avoid blockades: if ships of other countries want to ply in international waters, no permission is required,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
However, he added that any entry into Indian territorial waters involves technical and regulatory considerations that fall under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Shipping or other relevant authorities.<\/p>\n
Jaiswal said that diplomatic engagement with Iranian authorities has helped ease the movement of Indian vessels in the region.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have had forward movement as a result of our diplomatic engagement and conversations with the Iranians. So far, 11 Indian ships have exited the Strait of Hormuz. 13 ships continue to be in the Persian Gulf, and we continue to be in touch with the Iranian authorities so that the remaining ships can also cross the Strait of Hormuz and reach their destination in India,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Earlier on Wednesday, Opesh Kumar Sharma, Director of Shipping at the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, said all Indian seafarers remain safe in the region and no incident involving an Indian-flagged vessel has been reported in the last 48 hours since the previous briefing.<\/p>\n
Speaking at an Inter-Ministerial Briefing on Recent Developments in West Asia, Sharma said the ministry has also facilitated the safe repatriation of more than 2,999 seafarers, including 23 in the past 48 hours from the Gulf region.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Ministry of Ports, Shipping, and Waterways continues to coordinate with the Ministry of External Affairs, Indian missions, and maritime stakeholders to ensure seafarer welfare and uninterrupted maritime operations. I am happy to state that all Indian seafarers continue to be safe in the region, and no incident involving an Indian-flagged vessel has been reported since the last briefing in the past 48 hours. No incident has also been reported on any foreign-flagged vessels carrying Indian seafarers,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEW DELHI : India on last Thursday (07-05-2026) said that 11 Indian vessels have exited the Strait of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":107691,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[39],"class_list":{"0":"post-107690","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-persian-gulf","8":"tag-persian-gulf"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/116553988381772257","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107690","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=107690"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107690\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/107691"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=107690"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=107690"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=107690"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}