After attack on oil tanker: India sends warships to the Arabian Sea Egypt shoots down drone over the Red Sea ++ Iran threatens Israel with retaliation

India plans to send three warships to the Arabian Sea after a suspected drone attack on a merchant ship off its coast. These were intended as a deterrent, the Indian Navy announced on Tuesday.

The Liberian-flagged oil and chemical tanker “MV Chem Pluto” was struck last Saturday about 200 nautical miles off the coast of the mainland. The crew was able to extinguish a fire on board. There were no injuries or deaths.

After the attack, the Indian coast guard escorted the tanker to the port of the Indian metropolis of Mumbai, it said. The ship would actually be bringing crude oil from Saudi Arabia to the southern Indian city of Mangaluru, the Defense Ministry announced in New Delhi. India is heavily dependent on oil from the Middle East, even though the country has increasingly been sourcing Russian oil since the war in Ukraine.

Indian Defense Minister Rajnath Singh said local news agency PTI said an investigation into who was responsible for the attacks was underway. According to the US Department of Defense, Iran is to blame. The Foreign Ministry in Tehran rejected the accusation.

Since the start of the war in Gaza, ships in the Red Sea have been increasingly attacked by Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen. On Saturday, a senior general of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) warned the US and the West that further international sea routes could be blocked. (yam/sda/dpa)