India just sent missile destroyers to escort cooking gas.
What Happened
Under Operation Sankalp, Indian Navy warships escorted two LPG tankers — Shivalik and Nanda Devi — through the Strait of Hormuz and the Gulf of Oman, delivering 92,700 metric tonnes of cooking gas to Indian ports. Footage confirmed a Project 15 destroyer of the Visakhapatnam/Kolkata class, an MH-60R helicopter overhead, and INS Surat — a modern missile destroyer armed with long-range surface-to-air missiles and torpedoes — providing cover. Two full naval task forces were deployed for what is, by any definition, a wartime convoy operation.
Nanda Devi docked at a Gujarat port on March 17. The LPG shortage that’s been rattling kitchens and restaurants across the country made this delivery urgent. But getting it there required threading a needle through the most dangerous waterway on Earth.
Why India’s Kitchen Depends on a War Zone
The Strait of Hormuz is a 39-kilometre chokepoint between Iran and Oman. Roughly 25% of global oil transits through it. For India, the dependency is sharper: 60% of the country’s LPG is imported, and 85–90% of those imports come from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the UAE — all routed through Hormuz.
When Iran restricted passage amid the escalating US-Israel-Iran conflict, India’s energy lifeline didn’t just get threatened. It got cut. That’s what triggered the convoy — and the rupee’s slide to 92.45.
What This Reveals
Operation Sankalp has been active since 2019, but deploying two task forces to escort LPG tankers is a significant escalation. India is running a military logistics operation to keep stoves running — and that tells you everything about where energy security stands right now.
The diplomatic angle matters too. Reports indicate Iran’s embassy helped negotiate safe passage for the tankers, suggesting backchannel coordination even as the broader conflict intensifies. But diplomacy didn’t move those ships. Destroyers did.
The gas reached Gujarat. The next shipment will need the same escort. And the one after that. Until India finds a way to cook dinner without routing through a war zone, the Navy stays deployed — and the price you pay for that cylinder keeps climbing.