Indian tanker clears Hormuz as two vessels turn back after firing

The Indian-flagged crude oil tanker Desh Garima, carrying 31 Indian seafarers, successfully transited the Strait of Hormuz on April 18, 2026, making it the 1...

What Happened

The Indian-flagged crude oil tanker Desh Garima, carrying 31 Indian seafarers, successfully transited the Strait of Hormuz on April 18, 2026, making it the 10th Indian-flagged vessel to navigate the strait since early March 2026.
Two other Indian-flagged vessels — Sanmar Herald (a VLCC carrying approximately 2 million barrels of Iraqi crude) and Jag Arnav (a bulk carrier) — were fired upon by boats belonging to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and were forced to turn back westward.
Indian authorities raised formal concerns with Iran through diplomatic channels over the safety of merchant shipping and seafarers operating in the region.
Iran's Supreme National Security Council stated that the Islamic Republic is exercising "intense management and control" over the strait, issuing transit permits and enforcing wartime regulations in response to what Tehran described as a US-led blockade.
The Desh Garima is expected to arrive in Mumbai on April 22, 2026.
The incidents come against the backdrop of the 2026 Strait of Hormuz crisis, which began on February 28, 2026, when the United States and Israel launched air operations against Iran, after which Iran moved to restrict maritime traffic through the strait.

Static Topic Bridges

The Strait of Hormuz: The World's Most Critical Oil Chokepoint

The Strait of Hormuz is a narrow waterway separating Iran to the north from Oman and the United Arab Emirates to the south, connecting the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Oman and, ultimately, the Arabian Sea. At its narrowest point, it is approximately 21 nautical miles (34 km) wide, with shipping traffic using two designated lanes — one for inbound and one for outbound vessels — each only 2 nautical miles wide with a 2-nautical-mile separation zone. The strait is flanked by the territorial waters of Iran and Oman, meaning all vessel traffic passes through one or both states' 12-nautical-mile territorial sea zones.

Approximately 20% of global seaborne oil trade and 20% of global LNG trade passes through the strait annually (nearly 15 million barrels per day of crude oil in 2025).
~90% of volumes transiting the strait are destined for Asian markets — making it existentially important for East and South Asian energy security.
Qatar, the world's second-largest LNG exporter, ships its entire LNG output through the strait; the UAE also exports LNG through the same route.
There is no readily available alternative route for Persian Gulf oil exporters at comparable cost or volume — the Strait of Hormuz has no viable bypass for most Gulf states.

Connection to this news: Two Indian-flagged vessels were prevented from exercising their legal right of transit passage through the strait, directly threatening India's crude oil supply chain which depends heavily on Gulf sources.

UNCLOS and the Right of Transit Passage

The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), adopted in 1982 and in force since 1994, is the principal international legal framework governing ocean navigation. India ratified UNCLOS in 1995. Under UNCLOS, a coastal state's territorial sea extends up to 12 nautical miles from its baselines. In straits used for international navigation that fall within territorial seas — such as the Strait of Hormuz — the convention establishes a special regime called Transit Passage (Article 38).

Transit passage gives all ships and aircraft the right to navigate continuously and expeditiously through or over international straits, even when those waters fall within a state's territorial sea.
Unlike "innocent passage" (applicable in territorial seas generally), transit passage cannot be suspended by the coastal state under any circumstances.
Coastal states bordering international straits "shall not hamper transit passage" and may only adopt limited regulations on routing and pollution — they cannot impose permit systems or wartime controls.
Iran's position of demanding transit permits and enforcing "conditional control" over Hormuz shipping has been widely characterised by international legal experts as a violation of UNCLOS Article 38.
Both Iran and the United States are notable non-ratifiers of UNCLOS (though the US recognises its customary international law provisions); India, as a ratifying state, has a direct legal stake in upholding transit passage rights.

Connection to this news: Iran's IRGC firing on vessels and forcing them to turn back represents a direct challenge to the freedom of transit passage guaranteed under UNCLOS, placing India in a position where it must assert its rights as a major seafaring and energy-importing nation.

India's Energy Security and Gulf Dependence

India is the world's third-largest crude oil importer and consumer, importing approximately 88–89% of its crude oil requirements. This high import dependence makes international oil supply disruptions a matter of direct national economic concern. India's oil import basket is geographically concentrated in West Asia (the Middle East), with the Strait of Hormuz forming the only transit corridor for most of these supplies.

Russia has emerged as India's largest single crude oil supplier (approximately 31.5% of imports in 2025–26), primarily through discounted post-sanctions deals.
Iraq is India's second-largest supplier, with crude routed through the Persian Gulf and through the Strait of Hormuz.
Saudi Arabia and the UAE are other major suppliers, all of whose exports pass through the strait.
A prolonged closure of the Strait of Hormuz could trigger an immediate crude price spike globally and force India to activate its Strategic Petroleum Reserves (SPR), held at Visakhapatnam, Mangaluru, and Padur (combined capacity ~5.33 million metric tonnes).
India has limited alternatives: some Russian crude arrives via Arctic/Baltic routes, and the US and certain African suppliers can be accessed via the Cape of Good Hope, but at significantly higher freight costs and longer lead times.

Connection to this news: With Hormuz under partial Iranian control and two Indian vessels already forced to retreat, the events directly threaten the supply and cost of crude oil for India's refineries, underlining why the government responded with a formal diplomatic protest.

IRGC (Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps): A Primer

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) is a branch of Iran's armed forces established after the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Unlike Iran's conventional military (Artesh), the IRGC reports directly to the Supreme Leader and has a broader political, economic, and paramilitary mandate. Its naval wing, the IRGC Navy, specifically patrols the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz.

The IRGC Navy has previously seized or harassed commercial vessels in the Gulf — most notably the seizure of the UK-flagged tanker Stena Impero in 2019 — demonstrating a pattern of using shipping disruption as geopolitical leverage.
The IRGC was designated a Foreign Terrorist Organization by the United States in 2019, a designation that has complicated US-Iran diplomatic dealings ever since.
Reports indicate that in the April 2026 incident, the IRGC had initially granted transit clearance to Indian vessels before opening fire — a detail that compounds the legal and diplomatic gravity of the situation.

Connection to this news: Understanding the IRGC's institutional identity is essential for contextualising why Iran's central government and the IRGC Navy may act with a degree of operational independence, and why India's diplomatic protest was directed at Iran's government as the responsible sovereign state.

Key Facts & Data

Desh Garima: Indian-flagged crude oil tanker; 31 Indian seafarers aboard; safely transited Hormuz on April 18, 2026; expected at Mumbai April 22.
Sanmar Herald: Indian-flagged VLCC; carrying ~2 million barrels of Iraqi crude; fired upon by IRGC gunboats; forced to turn back.
Jag Arnav: Indian-flagged bulk carrier; also fired upon; forced to retreat westward.
Strait of Hormuz: 21 nautical miles (34 km) at narrowest point; ~20% of global oil and LNG trade.
India's crude import dependence: ~88–89% of requirements imported.
Top suppliers: Russia (~31.5%), Iraq, Saudi Arabia, UAE — most routed through Hormuz.
UNCLOS Article 38: Guarantees uninterruptible right of transit passage through international straits; Iran's actions are in direct legal tension with this provision.
2026 Hormuz crisis onset: February 28, 2026 — Iran began restricting traffic following US-Israel air operations against Iran.
India's SPR capacity: ~5.33 million metric tonnes at three locations (Visakhapatnam, Mangaluru, Padur).