India belatedly urges early cessation to hostilities in Middle East

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi posted two separate messages on X responding to the now two day long campaign of hostilities against Iran by the forces of Israel and the US.

In the first message posted at 11:26PM on March 1 2026, Modi revealed that he had a conversation with the President of the UAE Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. In this message, he “Strongly condemned the attacks on the UAE and condoled the loss of lives in these attacks.

India stands in solidarity with the UAE in these difficult times” the Indian PM said. Modi also expressed his gratitude to the UAE for taking care of the Indian diaspora living in the country and said that New Delhi supports “de-escalation, regional peace, security and stability”.

However it is important to note that the mode of communication between the two leaders was not specified.

In the second message posted at 1:11AM on March 2, Modi announced his telephone conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who he had met only a few days previously on a state visit to Israel.

Modi said in his post that “reiterates the need for an early cessation of hostilities”, and conveyed its concerns over the developments. The Indian leader also “emphasised the safety of civilians as a priority”. However, these messages from India’s head of the government have come very late into the crisis as the first strikes on Iran by Israeli and US forces were reported on February 28.

These strikes were launched under two separate military operations "Roaring Lion" by Israel and "Operation Epic Fury" by the US.

Modi has faced criticism by both Indian opposition parties such as the Indian National Congress(INC) and a chunk of social media users. INC leader Jairam Ramesh posted on X on March 1 2026 at 7:49PM “The silence is shameful and shows extreme political cowardice as well.” His INC colleague Pawan Khera opined “The silence of the Modi Govt on the targeted assassination of Ayatollah Khamenei and other Iranian leaders demonstrates its abdication of moral leadership and its reluctance to say anything remotely critical of the US and Israel. It is a complete betrayal of all that India has stood for. India has never before looked this weak”.

India’s Minister of External Affairs, Dr. S. Jaishankar had been coordinating with his counterparts from all the affected Middle Eastern countries on the same day as the start of the conflict.

According to his posts on X around 10PM on February 28, Jaishankar spoke to Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi and Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar in two separate conversations. In the next few hours Jaishankar announced in several X posts that he had similar conversations with his counterparts from Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the UAE separately.

The large number of calls by the country’s Minister of External Affairs indicates that Indian diplomacy was still active despite the head of the government not responding to the situation with a public statement.

India also has a sizable Muslim and Shia population in pockets of the country, mainly in Kashmir, Uttar Pradesh(UP) and Kerala. While not threatening India’s own stability and security, instances of public protests against the killing of Iran’s Supreme Leader and other prominent figures have been observed in these parts of the country.

A crude oil shock after the disruption of trade routes and hydrocarbon production in and near the Middle East region, as well as India’s lowering consumption of Russian crude will likely drive India towards buying more US crude and can also have an impact on prices of fuel in the country if the crisis continues beyond the point where New Delhi is forced to tap into its strategic reserves.

India has not announced any major plans for the evacuation of its nationals from affected countries, but India’s Ministry of External Affairs and armed forces have been known to conduct large evacuation operations for its citizens stuck in conflict zones.

However both the geographical scale and spread of the conflict and the large number of diaspora may make it a challenging operation if it is attempted.