On February 28, the Iran War opened with a precision strike that eliminated Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. On the same day, a Tomahawk missile struck a primary school in Tehran, leaving 160 girls dead.
The Iran War left India in an uncomfortable situation, as New Delhi had strong ties with the US, Israel, and Iran.
Prime Minister Narendera Modi visited Israel on February 25-26. The two countries are strategic partners, and according to SIPRI, Israel is India’s third largest source of arms imports, behind France and Russia.
Similarly, the US is India’s largest trade partner, an important source of cutting-edge weapons, and a big source of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI).
On the other hand, India shares deep cultural, historical, and linguistic relations with Iran.
The Strait of Hormuz is critical for India’s energy needs. Nearly 50% of India’s crude oil and up to 60% of its Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) pass through the Strait of Hormuz.
Furthermore, with Pakistan blocking India’s access to Afghanistan, Iran also serves as India’s gateway to Kabul and further to Central Asia.
India has deep strategic interests in the Chabahar port, which New Delhi was building before the war broke out. The Chabahar port is not only India’s gateway to Afghanistan and Central Asia, but also a competitor to the China-funded Gwadar port in Pakistan’s Balochistan province.
India is also home to the world’s third-largest Shia population, behind Iran and Pakistan (some sources suggest Iraq’s Shia population is also larger than India’s).
Understandably, and in line with India’s multi-alignment foreign policy, India tried to walk a tightrope, striking a delicate balance by upholding neutrality while urging all the sides to exercise “restraint, dialogue, and de-escalation.”
Still, even while adhering to neutrality, New Delhi could have issued a diplomatic note mildly condemning the assassination of a head of state and regretting the deadly strike on a girl’s primary school in Tehran.
A statement like “both sides should take utmost precaution to avoid targeting political leadership, children, schools, and hospitals,” would not have read as overtly critical of the US or Israel.
Given India’s legacy of the non-aligned movement and its aspirations to lead the Global South, the world watched for New Delhi’s reaction. Instead, what it got was… radio silence. No fiery condemnation. No official mourning. No strong or even mild-worded statement defending Iranian sovereignty.
It was only after a few days had passed that India’s foreign secretary, Vikram Misri, visited the Iranian embassy to sign the condolence book. The exercise was largely seen as a face-saver since a foreign secretary is not competent enough to fulfil that protocol.
India’s stoic silence was even more conspicuous given that India is the chair for BRICS in 2026, and Iran, a fellow BRICS-member state, has been attacked. In fact, India is perhaps the only founding BRICS member that has not condemned the attack on the girls’ primary school in Tehran.
Clearly, India is taking utmost care not to be seen as critical of the US and Israel’s war in Iran, so much so that many commentators are reading this silence as tactical support for the US and Israel.
For instance, writing for The Diplomat, Sandeep Bhardwaj said, “Although India has officially declared neutrality in the current Middle East conflict, its actions indicate tacit support for the United States and Israel.”
Similarly, in The Wire’s article “Silence Is Not Strategy: How India Blinked on Iran,” Gurdeep Sappal argued that “India’s ‘silence’ on the US–Israel war on Iran is being sold as responsible statecraft, but it is actually deference, not prudence… It is a reflexive tilt, calibrated to please Washington and Tel Aviv.”
The Indian Express’s Diplomatic Editor, Shubhajit Roy, opined that “India is picking a side” through its combination of silence, the timing of its statements, and its diplomatic choices.
However, despite this apparent tilt of the Indian government towards Israel and the US in this war, the Indian broadcast media is “going hammer and tongs” in its support for Tehran and criticism of the US.
In the Indian broadcast media, while Iran is framed as a lone warrior, courageously standing up for its sovereignty and self-respect, the US is framed as an arrogant imperial power, aloof to ground realities, and refusing to see how its war in Iran is pushing the whole world into a recession, barely four years after the Corona crisis.
Indian broadcast media commentators are repeatedly warning that Iran could turn into the next Afghanistan or Vietnam for the US.
Even for the forced closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a lifeline for India’s energy supplies, by the IRGC, Indian media commentators blamed Washington.
The contrarion stand taken by the Indian media is surprising, for it is known for its compliant attitude towards the Modi government, often blatantly supporting every foreign policy move of the government.
So, what explains the divergent stand taken by the Indian media?
There are two theories that could explain this peculiar situation.
First, it is the Indian government itself that has implicitly communicated to the media to be vocal in their support for Iran to balance out its own silence on the West’s aggression.
According to this theory, the Indian government is preserving its growing ties with both Jerusalem and Washington.
On the other hand, it is allowing, or at least not restraining, a domestic media narrative that keeps Iran engaged and public opinion satisfied.
It is a tightrope walk: tactical support for Israel in practice, but enough pro-Iran noise in the media to prevent any perception of outright betrayal of old friends in Tehran.
Notably, while the Indian media is supporting Iran, there has been no harsh criticism of the Indian government’s silence on the issue.
However, the second, and more plausible, theory is that the feverish pitch of US criticism in the Indian media reflects a deep churn in the Indian psyche towards Washington.
The Indian public mood, which was overtly pro-US and pro-Trump till last year, has turned deeply hostile after repeated indignations by Trump over the last year.
He insisted that he forced New Delhi into a ceasefire with Islamabad in May 2025, despite New Delhi’s forceful denials. He made fun of alleged Indian aircraft combat losses, slapped 50% tariffs on Indian exports to the US (one of the highest on any country), pressurised India to stop buying discounted Russian oil, and elevated Pakistan’s stature in international politics through multiple steps that seemed to favor Islamabad over New Delhi.
Indian media repeatedly reminds Trump of American aircraft losses in the Iran war (20 so far, including F-35, Super Hornets, E-3 AWACS, and scores of Reaper Drones) to avenge Trump’s repeated snide remarks about seven, eight, or even 12 aircraft having been shot down in the India-Pakistan War.
The Trump administration’s arm-twisting of India to stop buying Russian oil, going so far as to slap 50% tariffs on Indian exports, was deeply resented by New Delhi, as Indians highly value their strategic autonomy.
Notably, India, which gained independence after nearly two centuries of anti-imperialist struggle, has a long tradition of anti-Americanism that subsided after years of confidence-building measures by both sides.
After the end of the Cold War, India gradually eased its strategic suspicion of the US, signed a civilian nuclear deal with Washington, entered into intelligence and logistics-sharing pacts with the US, strengthened defense ties, and even joined the QUAD.
When the Trump administration was burning bridges built with India over many decades, many foreign policy experts had warned that while Trump might roll back the punitive tariffs on India at some point, the episode might leave a deep impression on the Indian psyche that Washington is not a reliable partner, and the damage to the bilateral relationship will be irreversible.
Writing for the Washington Post, noted US media anchor Fareed Zakaria had warned, “President Donald Trump’s sudden, inexplicable hostility toward India reverses policies pursued under five administrations, including his own previous one. If this new attitude holds, it might be the biggest strategic mistake of his presidency so far.”
“India has been a U.S. foreign policy bright spot. Yet Trump’s transactional approach, which prioritizes short-term gains for the U.S. even at the expense of long-term returns, could be reinforcing Indian skepticism about American reliability,” prominent foreign-policy strategist Brahma Chellaney had warned.
Similarly, Richard M. Rossow, Senior Adviser & former Wadhwani Chair in US-India Policy Studies at CSIS, wrote, “In an effort to push India to cross unreasonable thresholds… the Trump administration is depleting the reservoir of trust that both nations have painstakingly built over a generation… The bizarre engagements with Pakistan… have stoked India’s age-old concerns about the reliability of the United States as a partner.”
The over-the-top criticism of the US in the Iran war, the repeated referring to Washington as an arrogant, haughty, imperial power, despite the Indian government’s total silence, demonstrates how deep the rot has been in the US-India relationship.
Curiously, the criticism of the Iran War in the Indian media is reserved only for Washington, as Israel is hardly blamed for this war.
The Indian media condemned Washington’s “warmongering” while conveniently glossing over Israel’s central role.
This selective targeting of the US clearly shows that the Trump administration has done irreparable harm to the Indo-US relationship.
The spontaneous anti-US discourse in the Indian media should serve as a warning sign for the Trump administration and should convince Washington to reverse course soon.
- Sumit Ahlawat has over a decade of experience in news media. He has worked with Press Trust of India, Times Now, Zee News, Economic Times, and Microsoft News. He holds a Master’s Degree in International Media and Modern History from the University of Sheffield, UK.
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- He can be reached at ahlawat.sumit85 (at) gmail.com
