INDIA PERSPECTIVE

New Delhi views the Gulf through the eyes of a trading power held hostage by a war that isn't its own. Indian coverage is dominated by the material consequences: the cost of shipping a container from Asia to the United States has doubled since the war began, driven by surging fuel prices and fears of an energy crisis — 'if you want to know how seriously to take the threat, look at ocean freight rather than the oil market,' analyst Peter Sand sums up. Indian markets, by contrast, show notable composure: the Sensex even jumped 500 points despite the escalation, a sign of an economy that believes itself relatively insulated. On the human front, the angle is Indians trapped: four young men from Andhra Pradesh have been stranded for six months aboard the MV Pascal near Bandar Abbas, without pay or adequate supplies, filming their distress. Three more nationals are missing after a strike on a commercial vessel off Oman, prompting New Delhi to summon the US ambassador. India also reports, without dwelling, the bare facts: US strikes, Iranian drone retaliation on the Fifth Fleet in Bahrain, and fresh US sanctions targeting eleven entities, including Chinese and Hong Kong firms accused of supplying Iran's military. A note of national pride even emerges: it was a drone boat co-founded by an Indian-American that rescued the downed Apache pilots. The tone stays that of a country that wants oil and the safety of its sailors, not a side.