India has quietly launched a discreet maritime security operation codenamed ‘Operation Urja Suraksha’ — meaning Energy Security Operation — to guide and protect its merchant vessels carrying critical energy supplies out of the Persian Gulf, according to government sources cited in media reports. The operation marks a significant escalation in India’s operational response to the Hormuz crisis, moving beyond the diplomatic assurances and naval escort missions of recent weeks into a coordinated, mission-specific extraction programme for its most strategically vital trapped vessels.
According to officials, as of the time of launch there were 22 Indian-flagged vessels with over 600 seafarers in the western Persian Gulf, along with three additional vessels carrying 76 Indian crew members east of the Strait. Of these, 20 ships have been identified as high-priority targets for extraction, as they are transporting LNG, LPG, and crude oil — cargoes critical to India’s domestic energy supply chain. The operation is being conducted with a high degree of caution and minimal publicity, following coordination with Iranian authorities to ensure safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz.
Jag Vasant Docks at Kandla with 42,000 MT of LPG
Evidence of Operation Urja Suraksha’s early success was visible at Kandla Port on Friday, when the VLGC Jag Vasant docked carrying 42,000 metric tonnes of LPG — a substantial cargo delivery that will help ease the supply pressure on India’s LPG distribution network. The vessel, along with sister ship Pine Gas, had transited the Strait of Hormuz via the unconventional Qeshm-Larak channel — hugging the Iranian coastline — and notably broadcast specific identification signals including ‘PINE GAS INDIAN SHIP’ and ‘JGVASNTINDSHIPINDCRW’ in place of standard vessel identifiers, a practice that appears designed to signal their nationality to Iranian naval forces monitoring the waterway.
The Jag Vasant’s safe arrival with its full cargo is a direct and tangible outcome of the diplomatic and operational framework India has built with Iran over the past four weeks, and provides critical relief at a time when India’s March LPG import volumes are projected to be nearly half of normal monthly levels.
The Human Cost: Indian Seafarer’s Ordeal
Operation Urja Suraksha unfolds against the backdrop of intensely personal accounts of hardship from Indian seafarers trapped in the conflict zone. A 28-year-old Indian sailor, speaking anonymously to international media from Iraqi waters, described a constant state of fear aboard his vessel, which has been idled in the Gulf for over a month. The sailor recounted that his ship was rocked by nearby missile strikes, with explosions occurring just miles away along the Iranian coastline. His account — of sleepless nights on deck, waiting for something to happen — captures the human dimension of a crisis that is too often discussed in the abstract language of freight rates and supply chains.
Iran Reiterates Friendly Nation Access; GCC Alleges Transit Fees
Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi reiterated this week that commercial shipping from India and other ‘friendly nations’ will continue to be allowed through the Strait. However, the Gulf Cooperation Council Secretary-General Jasem Mohamed Al-Budaiwi has alleged for the first time that Iran is charging vessels fees for safe passage — a charge that Iranian authorities deny but which has added a new layer of tension and uncertainty to the already fraught question of Hormuz access. Two Chinese container ships were observed via tracking data to have begun transiting the strait before making abrupt U-turns mid-passage, underlining the operational unpredictability that continues to deter most non-Indian commercial shipping from attempting Hormuz transits.
