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India and South Korea on Monday agreed to significantly expand their bilateral partnership across trade, technology, defence-adjacent sectors and the Indo-Pacific, setting an ambitious target to more than double trade to $50 billion by 2030 while launching new institutional mechanisms to deepen economic and strategic cooperation. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and South Korean President Lee Jae Myung; Via: MEA India The agreements were announced following talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and South Korean President Lee Jae Myung during the latter’s state visit to India — the first such visit in eight years — where both sides outlined a transition from an existing strategic partnership to what was described as a more “futuristic” and comprehensive framework. At the core of the outcomes is a broad-based push spanning semiconductors, shipbuilding, artificial intelligence, energy security and supply chains, alongside the launch of an India–Korea Digital Bridge to drive collaboration...

India’s Vice-President C. P. Radhakrishnan on Sunday held bilateral discussions with Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake in Colombo, as part of his ongoing two-day official visit — the first such bilateral visit by an Indian Vice-President to Sri Lanka. Image Via: MEA India The meeting took place at the Presidential Secretariat, where both sides held what officials described as “productive discussions” focused on deepening multifaceted India–Sri Lanka ties anchored in shared history and cultural linkages. India reaffirmed its commitment to its “Neighbourhood First” policy and emphasised expanding cooperation for mutual benefit. Glimpses from Vice President of India Shri C. P. Radhakrishnan’s call on with the President of Sri Lanka, H.E. Anura Kumara Dissanayake, at the Presidential Secretariat in Colombo today. pic.twitter.com/zaQEiNizBz — Vice-President of India (@VPIndia) April 19, 2026 According to official statements, the talks covered ongoing development cooperat...

India on Saturday lodged a formal protest with Iran after two India-flagged ships came under fire while transiting the Strait of Hormuz , prompting New Delhi to summon Iran’s ambassador and demand immediate restoration of safe passage for Indian-bound vessels through the critical waterway. Image Via: @Iran on X  According to an official statement , Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri conveyed “deep concern at the shooting incident… involving two Indian-flagged ships in the Strait of Hormuz,” underscoring that India attaches high importance to “the safety of merchant shipping and mariners.”  He recalled that Iran had earlier facilitated safe transit for India-bound vessels and urged Tehran “to resume at the earliest the process of facilitating India-bound ships across the Strait.” The Iranian envoy, Mohammad Fathali, was called in by the Ministry of External Affairs and “undertook to convey these views to the Iranian authorities,” the statement said, indicating diplomatic engagemen...

Iran on Saturday used its highest-level engagement with India to sharply frame the ongoing war as “unlawful aggression” by the United States and Israel, with President Masoud Pezeshkian telling Prime Minister Narendra Modi that Iran “did not initiate the war” and that attacks were carried out “without any justification, logic, or legal basis,” even as Modi condemned strikes on energy infrastructure, stressed freedom of navigation, and called for an early return to peace through dialogue. File Photo of Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian; Via: ShaykhSulaiman According to an official Iranian readout , Pezeshkian outlined what he described as the “dimensions of the aggression,” alleging that U.S. and Israeli strikes had resulted in the deaths of senior leaders, military commanders and civilians, including “innocent schoolchildren,” and claimed that a U.S. strike on a school in Minab led to the killing of 168 children.  He rejected U.S. assertions that the campaign was aimed...

Indian officials on Friday stated that nearly 300,000 passengers have returned from West Asia since February 28, 913 Indian nationals have crossed from Iran into Armenia and Azerbaijan with embassy assistance, and 22 Indian-flagged vessels carrying 611 Indian seafarers remain safe in the Persian Gulf. These developments have emerged as New Delhi responded to a fresh Indian death in Riyadh, tightened aviation risk advisories, and expanded its multi-ministerial effort to manage the widening fallout of the Iran war across energy, shipping and civilian movement. Petroleum Secretary Sujata Sharma; Screengrab Via: TBS World Now on X At an inter-ministerial briefing in New Delhi , senior officials from the Ministries of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Ports, Shipping and Waterways, and External Affairs laid out India’s latest assessment of the crisis, while the Directorate General of Civil Aviation issued a clarification saying it had now circulated six safety advisories to Indian operators o...

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi  has spoken with at least six global leaders across West Asia, Europe and Southeast Asia over the past 24 hours. This comes at a time when India is intensifying diplomatic push for de-escalation, protection of energy infrastructure, and uninterrupted global trade flows as the Iran war expands into critical economic systems. File Photo of PM NaMo with French Prez Macron; Via: PMO In a series of coordinated calls, Modi engaged with King Abdullah II, Emmanuel Macron, Anwar Ibrahim, and Sultan Haitham bin Tariq, in addition to his earlier outreach to Kuwait’s leadership. This showed India's a multi-vector diplomatic effort aimed at stabilising a conflict now directly threatening energy supply chains and maritime routes. With Jordan’s King Abdullah II , Modi “expressed concern at the evolving situation in West Asia” and “highlighted the need for dialogue and diplomacy for the early restoration of peace, security and stability,” while warning that “at...

India on Thursday strongly condemned recent attacks on energy infrastructure across West Asia, warning that escalating strikes on oil and gas facilities are “ deeply disturbing ” and risk destabilising global energy supplies, as the Iran-Israel war expands into critical economic systems and disrupts flows through the Strait of Hormuz. File Photo of External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal; Via All India Radio  Responding to questions at a media briefing, Randhir Jaiswal said India has consistently called for “avoidance of targeting civilian infrastructure , including energy infrastructure,” adding that the latest attacks “only serve to further destabilise an already uncertain energy scenario for the whole world” and are “unacceptable and need to cease.” The remarks come amid a sharp escalation in the Iran war, where Israeli strikes on Iran’s South Pars gasfield and Iranian missile attacks on Qatar’s Ras Laffan LNG hub — along with reported attacks on UAE energy facil...

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence has explicitly identified India’s evolving nuclear capabilities as part of a broader global expansion of strategic weapons, stating in its 2026 Annual Threat Assessment that “India also is developing new and longer-range nuclear delivery systems,” placing New Delhi within a cohort of states advancing range, survivability and deterrence options. File Photo of Indian Navy’s successful precision strike in the Arabian Sea by ship launched BrahMos missile The report situates India’s nuclear trajectory within a shifting deterrence landscape where delivery systems, not just warhead counts, are becoming central. (Page 18) It warns that adversaries are “research[ing], develop[ing], and field[ing] delivery systems that will increase their ranges and accuracy, challenge U.S. missile defenses, and provide new WMD-use options”. T his formulation has directly framed India’s advancements alongside those of China, Russia and Pakistan. At the regio...

India has ordered households with piped natural gas (PNG) connections to surrender their LPG cooking gas connections as the government intensifies emergency measures to stabilise domestic energy supplies amid the escalating West Asia war and disruptions linked to the Strait of Hormuz. Representational Image Via: India Info Guide/India&TheWorld In a major step announced Sunday, the government amended the LPG Control Order , mandating that consumers already connected to PNG pipelines must surrender their LPG connections and prohibiting new LPG connections for PNG users , in a move officials said was designed to optimise limited LPG supplies during the crisis. The decision comes as authorities continue to manage the domestic fallout from the regional conflict, which has disrupted energy flows and shipping routes across the Gulf. Officials said the measure aims to “ optimise LPG availability ” by shifting urban consumers toward PNG networks wherever possible, freeing cooking gas sup...

India has intensified evacuation and transit arrangements for its citizens across West Asia as the widening regional war continues to disrupt air routes and civilian movement, with hundreds of Indian nationals leaving Lebanon and Qatar in coordinated repatriation efforts over the past 24 hours. The Embassy of India in Beirut confirmed that 177 Indian nationals departed Lebanon for New Delhi on a second repatriation flight arranged by their employer company, as Indian missions across the region accelerate assistance to citizens seeking to return home. Image Source: MEA India/Embassy Concerned “The second repatriation flight, arranged by their employer company, carrying 177 Indian nationals departed Beirut today for Delhi,” the embassy said, adding that “Team India in Beirut remains committed to extend best possible assistance to Indian nationals in Lebanon.” The movement comes amid escalating military activity across the Middle East and West Asia that has disrupted civilian aviation r...

India is confronting the domestic consequences of a war it did not start, with the government moving on multiple fronts—energy supply, maritime safety, diplomacy and public communication—to contain the ripple effects of the escalating conflict in West Asia and the effective disruption of the Strait of Hormuz . Representational Image Source: IndianTech&Infra on X At the government’s fourth inter-ministerial briefing since March 11 , officials outlined an increasingly coordinated national response designed to stabilise energy supplies, protect Indian citizens abroad and prevent panic at home. The briefing brought together senior officials from the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Ministry of External Affairs, Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways and the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting , reflecting how deeply the war has begun to intersect with India’s economic and security interests. The government’s most immediate challenge has been managing public anxiety over ...

Two Indian nationals were killed and ten others injured in an attack in the Omani port city of Sohar on Friday, as the widening West Asia war continued to claim civilian victims far beyond the battlefield, the Government of India said during its third inter-ministerial briefing on the crisis. The Ministry of External Affairs confirmed that the victims were among a group of workers caught in the incident early in Sohar, a major industrial and port hub in Oman. Officials said 11 people were injured in the attack, including 10 Indians, with five already discharged from hospital and five still receiving treatment. None of the injured currently under care were reported to have serious injuries. File Photo: Sohar Port and Freezone; Via: Oman News Agency on X MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said India had lost two nationals in the attack and expressed condolences to their families. “We lost two Indian nationals today in an attack in Sohar, Oman in the ongoing conflict in West Asia.  Se...