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India and France are “working intimately together” to de-escalate tensions successful West Asia, French President Emmanuel Macron said, aft a speech with Prime Minister Narendra Modi connected Thursday (March 19, 2026), 1 of galore calls that Mr. Modi and External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar made to leaders worldwide.
As Israel and Iran some stepped up attacks connected vigor installations and state fields crossed the Gulf region, the authorities said this targeting of civilian infrastructure was “deeply disturbing” and “unacceptable”, calling for them to stop.
In the past, New Delhi had condemned Iran’s attacks connected Gulf states, but not the strikes by the United States and Israel. Just past week, India had co-sponsored a UN Security Council resolution that lone condemned strikes by Iran connected its neighbours. In a marked shift, however, the authorities is present emphasising the request to debar attacking civilian infrastructure “across the region”.
Major escalation
“Recent attacks against vigor installations successful antithetic locations crossed this portion are profoundly disturbing and lone service to further destabilise an already uncertain vigor script for the full world,” the MEA’s authoritative spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said connected Thursday, broad-basing India’s concerns.
The attacks marked a large escalation successful the ongoing warfare successful West Asia, with Israeli missiles striking Iran’s largest state tract successful South Pars, and Iran’s retaliatory strikes targeting Qatar’s Ras Laffan state plant, and lipid and state facilities successful Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE.
Speaking to Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, the Amir of Qatar, PM Modi said India stands successful solidarity with Qatar, that suffered large losses from the Iranian strikes connected the Ras Laffan state facility, and “strongly condemns the attacks connected the region’s vigor infrastructure”.
Phone diplomacy
In a flurry of telephone calls to sermon the worsening situation, the Prime Minister besides spoke to the leaders of Jordan, Malaysia and Oman. Since February 28, Mr. Modi has spoken to his counterparts crossed the Gulf states, Iran, and Israel, and a fig of different leaders, different than U.S. President Donald Trump.
In addition, Mr. Jaishankar met with UAE Minister of State for International Cooperation Reem Al Hashimy, and spoke to Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar implicit the telephone. India has besides been engaging each leaders of the 10-member BRICS grouping that it is chairing this year, though it has not been capable to trade a statement connection owed to differences betwixt Iran and the UAE, which are some members.
The deficiency of a connection from BRICS is successful opposition to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) grouping, which includes Iran but not the UAE. The SCO issued a connection connected March 2 condemning the strikes connected Iran arsenic good arsenic the ensuing conflict.
“BRICS rank and SCO rank are 2 antithetic categories. If you look astatine the members, you volition get an reply arsenic to wherefore we are having issues with forming a consensus,” Mr. Jaiswal said, successful effect to a question from The Hindu.
‘Dialogue and diplomacy’
In his telephone calls connected Thursday, Mr. Modi said helium had called for a instrumentality to “dialogue and diplomacy”. Referring to the telephone with Mr. Macron, helium said: “We look guardant to continuing our adjacent coordination to beforehand bid and stableness successful the portion and beyond.”
“India and France are moving intimately unneurotic to trim tensions successful the portion and to support diplomacy astatine the bosom of our efforts for peace,” Mr. Macron said successful a station thanking Mr. Modi for the call. Mr. Macron has expressed peculiar interest implicit Iran’s restrictions of ships successful the Hormuz Strait and the Israeli bombardment of Lebanon.
Speaking to Jordanian King Abdullah, Mr. Modi said that “attacks targeting vigor infrastructure successful West Asia are condemnable acts, and they are liable to pb to escalation that tin beryllium avoided.” He added that India and Jordan both support the “free travel of goods and vigor without immoderate obstacles”.
In a speech with Sultan Haitham bin Tariq of Oman, the Prime Minister condemned the “violation of the Sultanate of Oman’s sovereignty and the unity of its territories”, without naming Iran arsenic the root of strikes connected Omani facilities. He added that helium and Malaysian PM Anwar Ibrahim had a “shared committedness to de-escalation and the aboriginal restoration of bid and stableness done dialog and diplomacy”.
In his conversations with Gulf leaders, Mr. Modi besides thanked them for their assistance successful securing the information of Indians successful the region, including those being facilitated to instrumentality to India.
