Prime Minister Narendra Modi is back from his trip to chair an urgent Cabinet Committee on Security meeting Sunday’s night. He’s been touring Rajasthan, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, and Puducherry, inaugurating projects, but this catastrophe pulled him back fast.
The US and Israel floated heavy coordinated airstrikes on Iran—the operations as like “Epic Fury” and “Roaring Lion”—hitting military bases, command centers, air defences, and more all over the cities including Tehran.
Lamentably, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in one of these strikes, along with several top most military and security officials. Iran has declared official mourning, with a 40-day period announced, and an interlude leadership council is already stepping in to grasp things.
Iran didn’t sit quiet—they fired back with missiles and attacks hitting Israeli targets, US bases in the region, and even abound into places like the UAE and other Gulf spots. Casualties are climbing the US military confirmed three American service members killed and others injured, reports of deaths in Israel (like nine in a strike near Jerusalem), and chaos across the board.
President Trump has been vocalized, saying the strikes are giving Iranians a chance to claim back their country and that operations will continue “as long as necessary.” Iran calls it an open declaration of war, vowing brutal retaliation.
For us in India, this is super worrying. We’ve got close to 10 million Indians working and living in the Gulf—UAE, Saudi, Qatar. Their safety comes first. Flights are getting messed up, airspace is closing in spots, and there’s real anxiety about oil prices spiking since we import so much from there.
Remittances, trade, energy security—everything could feel the tweak if this tug on. The Strait of Hormuz is a choke point, and any trouble there hits Indian tankers very harder.
The CCS crew—Modi, Rajnath Singh on defence, Amit Shah home, S Jaishankar external affairs, Nirmala Sitharaman finance—will go over the latest intel, evacuation options if things worsen, impact on our economy, and what India’s position should be diplomatically. It’s tricky: we’ve got strong ties with Israel and the US (Modi just visited Israel recently showing solidarity), but we also have deep relations with Arab nations and historically balanced views on Iran.
Meanwhile, opposition parties are already slamming the government for staying silent so far on Khamenei’s killing—calling it weak, an abdication of moral leadership, even “despicable” in some statements from Congress leaders like Priyanka Gandhi and Pawan Khera. No official word from Modi yet on the assassination itself.
This is moving fast, folks. Tonight’s meeting could decide quick steps like advisories for Indians abroad or contingency plans.
Sources:
The Telegraph India
Economic Times
Hindustan Times
LiveMint
Al Jazeera
BBC
CNN
The Guardian
ANI
PTI
