India Still Silent on US-Israeli War on Iran But FS Finally Condoles Khamenei Death; Indian Refiners Pick Up Russian Oil as Hormuz Choked; First Polls in Nepal Since GenZ Revolt
Subscribers only: Dhankharification under Modi government?; Mumbai Press Club Spurns Elgar Parishad Accused Months After Launching Anand Teltumbde's ‘Iconoclast’
If you like our work and want to support us, then do subscribe. Sign up with your email address by clicking on this link and choose the FREE subscription plan. Do not choose the paid options on that page because Stripe – the payment gateway for Substack, which hosts The India Cable – does not process payments for Indian nonprofits.
Our newsletter is paywalled but once a week we lift the paywall so newcomers can sample our content. To take out a fresh paid subscription or to renew your existing monthly or annual subscription, please click on the special payment page we have created – https://rzp.io/rzp/the-india-cable.Snapshot of the day
March 5, 2026
Anirudh S.K.
Five days into what appears to be a conflict widening beyond West Asia, India under Prime Minister Narendra Modi still cannot bring itself to criticise the US-Israeli war against Iran but belatedly expressed condolences for Supreme Leader Khamenei’s death. On Thursday, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri visited the Iranian embassy in New Delhi and signed the official condolence book for the assassinated leader, and also met Iran’s ambassador. “The foreign secretary on behalf of the Government of India signed the condolence book at the embassy of Iran today,” the external affairs ministry said, indicating that unlike some other countries that issued separate condolence messages, the Modi government will not release a formal statement.
So concerned has the government been about not offending the United States that express instructions were cabled to all Indian ambassadors overseas on March 3 stipulating that they were not to sign any Iranian condolence book in the capitals they are posted in without the Ministry of External Affairs’ permission.
At the same time, Jaishankar spoke with his Iranian opposite number Abbas Aragchi in the afternoon in a call whose details aren’t available as The India Cable goes to press. The conversation also took place a few hours after Araghchi had given Iran’s first response to the sinking of its frigate the IRIS Dena – torpedoed by a US submarine in Sri Lanka’s extended economic zone off Galle on Wednesday – describing it as “a guest of India’s Navy” returning from the Indian Fleet review and MILAN exercises in Visakhapatnam. “The US has perpetrated an atrocity at sea, 2,000 miles away from Iran’s shores … Mark my words: The U.S. will come to bitterly regret precedent it has set,” Araghchi posted on X.
Close to a day after the incident, the Indian Navy released a carefully worded account of its search efforts, focusing solely on humanitarian search and rescue operations and avoiding any reference to the US strike. It said it deployed a maritime patrol aircraft at 10 am – hours after the Dena was hit – kept another aircraft with life rafts on standby, while the INS Tarangini reached the search area at 4 pm. By that time, the statement said, rescue operations had already been carried out by the Sri Lankan Navy and other agencies.
This timeline raises unresolved questions. Sri Lanka’s foreign minister Vijitha Herath told parliament that the distress call was received at 5:08 am and rescue operations began at 7 a.m. – both countries share the same time zone. The Indian Navy’s account does not mention that the ship had been returning from an Indian exercise, nor that it had been struck by a US submarine in waters close to India’s maritime neighbourhood. It also shows that the first Indian naval presence in the search area arrived by the time the rescue effort was effectively over, notes Sushant Singh. Sri Lankan authorities, meanwhile, have not indicated any Indian participation in the initial rescue operation.
Sri Lanka’s Navy said yesterday 87 bodies had been recovered and 32 sailors were rescued. It also evacuated 208 crew members off a second Iranian navy vessel, the IRIS Bushehr, on Thursday and said it would move the ship to Trincomalee amid fears that it too could be hit.
The amount of time it took for India to officially react to Khamenei’s killing has not gone down well among Iranian officials, who
