The West Asia War & India's Stakes
The 2025-26 confrontation between Israel and the United States on one side and Iran on the other has twice pushed India into crisis mode. A twelve-day exchange in June 2025 forced New Delhi to airlift citizens home. A larger US-led campaign in early 2026 choked shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, the artery for much of the oil, gas and cooking fuel India buys abroad. India imports most of its energy and hosts roughly ten million workers in the Gulf, so a West Asian war lands on the fuel pump, the rupee and the trade balance. By August 2026 Washington and Tehran were publicly claiming the same waterway, and the passage India depends on had still not reopened.
- Operation Sindhu
- Strait of Hormuz
- Operation Epic Fury
- Iran-Israel war
- Indian diaspora GCC
- remittances
- crude oil imports
- rupee depreciation
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