India's former Ambassador to the UAE and Egypt, Navdeep Singh Suri, on Thursday, 30 April termed both Iran's blockage of the Strait of Hormuz and the US counter-blockade as "illegal", warning that the ongoing West Asia conflict poses a direct and growing threat to the Indian economy. Speaking in an interview with IANS, Suri called the entire chain of military actions in the region — from the US-Israel joint strike on Iran to Iran's retaliatory operations — a sweeping breakdown of international law.

The Illegal Actions on All Sides

Suri was unequivocal in his assessment. "The US and Israeli attack on Iran was illegal. Iran's attack on its neighbours as a retaliatory step was illegal. Iran's blockage of the Strait of Hormuz is illegal, and the US blockading the blockage is illegal," he said, adding that India, as a major country in the neighbourhood, "should be very concerned about this kind of lawlessness or a might-is-right policy."

The conflict escalated after the US and Israel carried out a joint military operation against Iran on 28 February, killing Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The strikes triggered a large-scale Iranian military response against Israel and US bases in Gulf nations, culminating in the closure of the Strait of Hormuz — one of the world's most critical energy chokepoints — and a consequent global energy crisis.

Ceasefire Talks Collapse After 21 Hours

Iran and the US reached a two-week ceasefire starting 8 April, followed by the first round of direct talks on 11–12 April aimed at ending the conflict. However, negotiations collapsed after 21 hours, leaving the situation unresolved. Suri noted that while the US holds clear military superiority as a global superpower — and Israel as a regional one — Iran has secured significant strategic leverage through its stranglehold on the Strait.

"Strategically, Iran seems to be the greater beneficiary or seems to be ahead, whereas tactically the US has won the military victories," he observed.

India Among Potential Losers, Suri Warns

Suri raised sharp concerns about the economic fallout for India. He warned that Iran, having now fully realised the "tremendous global impact" of its control over the Strait, may be reluctant to relinquish that leverage. "You may see a different regime come into place where there's some form of tacit acknowledgement of Iranian... a degree of control going forward," he said.

He cautioned that Iran could move to impose tolls, management fees, or maintenance charges on shipping — a scenario that would hit India particularly hard, given its heavy dependence on Gulf imports and the Gulf's role as a major destination for Indian exports. "I think we will end up as one of the losers," he stated plainly.

Suri also flagged a dangerous precedent being set for other strategically located nations. He cited remarks by an Indonesian minister about potentially applying a toll on the Strait of Malacca — another of the world's busiest shipping lanes. While Singapore and Malaysia have opposed the idea, Suri warned: "The genie is out of the bottle."

Call for Coordinated Middle-Power Response

The former envoy urged India, Australia, European nations, and other middle powers to act in concert to restore the Strait of Hormuz to its pre-28 February status — that of a freely navigable international waterway under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). He noted, however, that neither Iran nor the United States is a signatory to UNCLOS, making enforcement legally complex.

Suri also expressed agreement with Defence Minister Rajnath Singh's statement at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Defence Ministers' Meeting that terrorism has no nationality or theology, arguing that attaching terrorism to any single religion or geography is "fundamentally flawed." He stressed that Pakistan's use of terrorist groups is driven by strategic calculation, not religion alone, and cited examples ranging from Hamas and Hezbollah to the Irish Republican Army and Basque separatists as evidence that terrorism transcends religious and national boundaries.

With talks stalled and the Strait's status unresolved, the coming weeks will test whether middle powers can forge a coordinated diplomatic response before economic costs become irreversible.