External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Tuesday spoke to his Israeli counterpart Gideon Saar and discussed various aspects of the West Asia crisis amid the US naval blockade of Iran’s ports.
The Foreign Affairs Minister also held a telephone conversation with Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong and exchanged views on the situation resulting from the war between Iran and the US-Israeli alliance.
After his call with Jaishankar, Sa’ar said that Iran’s actions that harm freedom of navigation through the Strait of Hormuz require “action.”
“I had a phone call this afternoon with Israeli Foreign Minister @gidonsaar. Our discussion covered various aspects of the situation in West Asia,” Jaishankar said on social media.
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The phone conversation between the foreign ministers of the two countries came amid reports of efforts by the United States and Iran to hold a new round of negotiations after the collapse of the initial dialogue in Islamabad.
The Israeli Foreign Minister said, “We discussed the issue of Iran, the Strait of Hormuz, and Lebanon. I said that the firm American position in the negotiations on the conditions that prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons is extremely important for the entire international community.”
He pushed for freedom of navigation through the Strait of Hormuz for all countries, including India.
This call came amid growing global concerns about the US naval blockade of Iranian ports. The US action came in response to Iran’s partial blocking of the flow of shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz.
Global oil and gas prices rose after Iran restricted ship transit through the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow passage between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, which handles nearly 20% of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas.
West Asia was a major source of India’s energy purchases.
