The Islamic Republic has managed to offend India, one of the few supporters it can count on, by seizing an Indian oil tanker as it sailed in international waters through the Persian Gulf.
Iran said the Indian tanker had polluted the waters of the gulf by flushing out its oil tanks as it passed by Iran. Indian news reports say Iran may want $1 million in compensation, though Iran has not announced a figure.
India says the tanker polluted nothing. Even if did pollute the water, India says Iran has no right to seize a foreign tanker, force it to sail into Iranian territorial waters and impound it. Some Indian media called the seizure a “hijacking.”
The seizure has not become a huge public issue in India, but the coverage it has received is very critical of Iran and Indian government officials quoted by the media are clearly more than just exasperated with Iran.
The Islamic Republic has traditionally been the recipient of much public support in India, where the people commonly are offended by big power pushiness and see the Americans as bullying Iran. But the tanker issue is being portrayed in India as Iran bullying that country, thus threatening an end to public support in one of the few countries that has given Iran much public support.
Much of the Indian media coverage suggests Iran might have seized the tanker and be pushing India around because India has reduced its purchases of Iranian oil in recent months. That does not appear logical, given that the Indian government is eager to buy more Iranian oil because of an advantageous payment system with Iran.
US and EU financial restrictions have halted Indian dollar and euro payments to Iran. That forced the new payment system whereby Iran sells the oil for rupees that are deposited in Indian banks. In the past, Iran only spent eight percent of its Indian oil earnings in India. Now it must spend everything in India or see its rupees pile up in India banks. That delights Indian exporters and the Indian government. Indian oil firms have been cutting back their purchases of Iranian oil only because of problems with insurance, not because of any desire for less Iranian oil.
The tanker Desh Shanthi was seized August 13 as it was sailing south through the Persian Gulf with a load of Iraqi oil. Iran charged that it had flushed out its tanks while sailing north through the gulf to Iraq July 30 and passing 48 kilometers (30 miles) from Iran’s Lavan Island.
The Desh Shanthi is owned by the Shipping Corporation of India (SCI), which used to own several ships jointly with Iran in a now defunct joint venture called Irano-Hind Shipping.
Iran says the Desh Shanthi caused “widespread pollution” and a 16-kilometer (10-mile) long oil slick when it discharged ballast water carried in the oil tanks. International maritime rules prohibit ships from discharging such water into coastal zones. Ships carry water in their oil tanks as ballast to maintain their balance while sailing without cargo, as a tanker does when it is sailing to an oil producer to load oil.
Indian news reports charged that the maritime arm of Iran’s Pasdaran (Revolutionary Guard) boarded the Desh Shanthi and ordered it to sail to an Iranian port. The ship is now in Bandar Abbas.
The Indian government said that even if the ship was guilty of polluting the Persian Gulf as charged, Iran has no right to detain the tanker under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
The Hindu, one of India’s largest dailies, said, “The immediate inference one can draw is that these are pressure tactics by Tehran, peeved by India’s increasing crude imports from Iraq.”
It said, “Many in shipping circles believe the incident could set back Indo-Iranian economic and trade relations.” But that is contrary to India’s national interest and to the interests of Indian exporters who are salivating about all the rupees Iran must spend in India.
The Hindu said India is keeping up Iranian oil shipments by allowing Iranian tankers to bring Iranian oil into Indian ports without any internationally recognized insurance. That means that if an Iranian tanker should cause an oil spill in Indian waters, India would dependent on Iranian good will to pay for the cleanup. But Iran said last week that India’s international insurers should pick up the bill for the pollution Iran claims was produced by the Desh Shanthi.
The Indian news coverage has in effect accused Iran of lying. It quotes an Indian Shipping Ministry official as saying the tanker was not carrying any oil on July 30 when Iran accuses it of polluting the Persian Gulf. But Iran did not accuse the ship of discharging oil, but rather of discharging ballast water that would be laced with the residue of crude oil previously carried on board the tanker. Iran never said the ship was carrying oil July 30; it would not have needed to carry ballast water if it tanks had been carrying oil.
Indian officials are quoted in the Indian media as calling the detention of the Desh Shanthi “an unfriendly act” and an “illegal action.”
Indian buys of Iranian oil have been declining in recent years. According to figures for India’s fiscal years, which run from April 1 to March 30, here are the imports in recent years in barrels per day:
2009-10 425,000
2010-11 372,000
2011-12 363,000
2012-13 267,000
Imports in June were 141,000 barrels per day.
Meanwhile, the Indian public has also been reading news stories in recent weeks about Iran’s continued detention of 19 Indian fishermen. They were arrested last December for violating Iranian waters, fined and sentenced to six months in jail. Their sentences ended two months ago but they remain in jail and the governor of their home state, Tamil Nadu, has vocally taken up their cause.