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Modi’s three Iran blunders lead to one question—where’s strategic autonomy?

Three avoidable blunders in PM Modi's handling of the US-Israel attack on Iran have laid bare the hollowness of his claims to global leadership.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s actions in the wake of the US-Israel attack on Iran show how far he has strayed from a longstanding Indian consensus on strategic autonomy. For successive governments, this has meant developing closer economic and security ties with the West without abandoning strategic relationships with states like Russia and Iran, anchored on critical technologies and energy security.

Three avoidable blunders in PM Modi’s handling of the US-Israel attack on Iran have laid bare the hollowness of his claims to global leadership and jeopardised India’s energy security. These are the actions of a compromised leader.

There are three important sets of interests that any Indian government has to balance in West Asia:

India is dependent on the US for trade and investment, and on Israel for weaponry.

Iran is an energy supplier to India and can shape world oil and gas prices, including by controlling the Strait of Hormuz. It is also a regional power that borders Russia, Pakistan and Afghanistan.

The Gulf monarchies are important oil, gas and fertiliser suppliers to India and home to some 1 crore Indians in Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

Given this complex interdependence,........

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