India has taken a significant military step to protect its energy security, deploying more than half a dozen warships to the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea.
According to a Bloomberg report on March 18, 2026, the Indian Navy is now actively escorting Indian-flagged merchant vessels carrying critical supplies of crude oil and Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) as the regional conflict continues to choke the Strait of Hormuz.
The deployment, part of the long-standing Operation Sankalp, follows intense diplomatic negotiations between New Delhi and Tehran.
While the Strait of Hormuz has been effectively closed to most commercial traffic following US-Israel airstrikes on Iran, Tehran has granted a rare “safe pass” specifically for Indian vessels.
This breakthrough allowed two major state-owned tankers, the Shivalik and Nanda Devi, to successfully transit the waterway earlier this week with nearly 93,000 metric tonnes of LPG.
They were met by Indian Navy destroyers and frigates in the Gulf of Oman to be escorted safely back to Indian ports.The situation remains critical, with approximately 22 Indian-flagged ships still stranded west of the Strait.
Indian Navy officials have clarified that their warships will remain east of the sensitive waterway and will not enter the Strait itself, focusing instead on picking up tankers as they exit and guiding them through vulnerable waters. This move is essential for India, which imports nearly 90% of its LPG from the Middle East.
Despite pressure from Washington to join a broader allied naval coalition, India has so far maintained an independent stance, relying on its own bilateral ties with Iran to keep its energy lifelines open.
The deployment of the Indian Navy serves as a bold assertion of “strategic autonomy.” By securing its own safe passage while avoiding direct involvement in the US-led coalition, India is successfully walking a diplomatic tightrope.
However, with over 20 ships still trapped in the Persian Gulf and regional tensions reaching a boiling point, the Navy’s escort mission may be the only thing standing between India and a severe domestic energy crisis.
