Modi Phones Iranian Prez Pezeshkian 13 Days After Start of US-Israeli Attacks; Govt Gives Nod to Kerosene, Coal Use Amid Energy Crisis; Ructions in Lok Sabha as Oppn Points to Puri's Epstein Links
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March 12, 2026
Anirudh S.K.
Almost two weeks after Iran was bombed by the United States and Israel – an unprovoked attack widely criticised by many countries as illegal – Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke for the first time with Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian about what he euphemistically described as the “serious situation in the region” and expressed “deep concern over escalation of tensions” as well as civilian deaths. The call comes after the conflict’s alarming repercussions have roiled global markets – including India’s – but Modi stopped short of condemning the US-Israeli airstrikes on Iran or mentioning the assassination of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in a silence that has intrigued critics and opposition leaders in New Delhi [see Watch Out].
Queues of people clutching empty LPG cylinders have stretched outside gas agencies across India and demand for induction stoves has skyrocketed in a striking image of anxiety over cooking gas on the third consecutive day of supply disruptions. On its part, the Modi government insists there is no shortage of domestic fuel. In a 14-minute speech in the Lok Sabha on Thursday, Union petroleum and natural gas minister Hardeep Singh Puri said supplies of LPG, petrol, diesel, kerosene and jet fuel were adequate. The queues, he claimed, were the result of “hoarding and panic-booking” that are “driven by consumer anxiety rather than any actual supply shortage”. A similar message was delivered by the police in Kanpur: There is no shortage of gas, they announced via loudspeaker. Never mind that a video of their PSA shows them walking past people standing in line with empty gas cylinders.
Even as the Union minister argues the shortage is purely psychological, the Modi government has sanctioned additional amounts of kerosene for use as cooking fuel. It has allocated an additional 48,000 kilolitres (kl) of kerosene to states, supplementing the regular quarterly quota of 1 lakh kl. With eateries hit hard by the government prioritising LPG supplies for domestic use, the environment ministry has also advised state pollution control boards to permit the use of biomass, kerosene and coal as alternative fuels for hotels and restaurants for one month.
India’s structural vulnerability has long been clear. Sujata Sharma, a joint secretary in the petroleum ministry, has noted that around 90% of India’s LPG imports pass through the Strait of Hormuz, which carries a large share of the world’s oil and gas. In his first message as Iran’s new Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei said the strait will stay closed as a “tool of pressure” and that Iran is targeting its neighbours due to the presence of US bases on their soil.
But India’s dependence is also the result of policy choices at home. LPG import dependence rose from 47% in 2015 to the sixties percent in 2025 amid the expansion of the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana, but critics – such as Aunindyo Chakravarty – argue that the Modi government failed to plan where the additional LPG supply would come from, leaving the country increasingly reliant on imports, thereby laying the groundwork for the current crisis.
The US-Israeli war on Iran has precipitated
