Goanet Digest, Vol 21, Issue 133

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Today's Topics:

   1. Read: "Iran?s Frantic Attempt to Save Its Ships Before
      Torpedo Attack" (Vivek Pinto)
   2. Read: "War in Iran Has India Wondering How to Keep Its
      Stovetops Lit" (Vivek Pinto)


----------------------------------------------------------------------

Message: 1
Date: Fri, 13 Mar 2026 00:03:16 +0900
From: Vivek Pinto <[email protected]>
To: Goanet <[email protected]>
Subject: [Goanet] Read: "Iran?s Frantic Attempt to Save Its Ships
	Before Torpedo Attack"
Message-ID:
	<CAH3OY9xhBFu9JXgZhJeb9PW6Ym44YrkHJ4woCQgVw3X2ueyaxA-JsoAwUIsXosN+BqQ9rBEUg@public.gmane.org>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"

By: Anupreeta Das and Pamodi Waravita - Anupreeta Das reported from New
Delhi, and Pamodi Waravita reported from Galle and Colombo, Sri Lanka.
Published in: *The New York Times*
Date: March 12, 2026
The Iranian Navy sought refuge in Sri Lanka and India. While India obliged,
Sri Lanka stalled over fears it would threaten its neutrality.

Hours after an American torpedo sank an Iranian warship off the coast of
Sri Lanka, the largest hospital in Galle, the port city closest to the
disaster, began filling up. White ambulances with red crosses whizzed back
and forth between the harbor and the hospital carrying the injured, while
the dead were brought in later on trucks.

By day?s end, the mortuary had run out of space. Hospital workers had to
place body bags in a mixture of sawdust and dry ice ? a technique fishermen
use to keep their catch from spoiling ? as they waited for two refrigerated
vehicles to arrive.

Sri Lanka, an island nation in the Indian Ocean more than 2,000 miles from
the Persian Gulf, found itself sucked into a faraway war ? and an
unexpected diplomatic skirmish with Iran. Iranian diplomats were upset that
Sri Lanka had not allowed the Dena, one of Iran?s most prized warships,
into its territorial waters, even though the country had earlier invited
the Iranian Navy to visit.

Sri Lankan officials said they were surprised when the Dena and two other
Iranian ships asked in late February to drop in at short notice. After the
United States and Israel attacked Iran on Feb. 28, Sri Lanka stalled,
fearing that admitting them would affect its neutrality on the U.S.-Israeli
war on Iran and threaten its security.

Even as its boats and helicopters rescued stricken sailors from the Dena,
the government took another day before deciding to shelter the Bushehr, an
aging fleet-supply vessel that was requesting safe haven. By then the
third, an Iranian landing ship called the Lavan, was already docked in a
port in neighboring India.

Sri Lanka and Iran share friendly ties
<https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/05/world/asia/sri-lanka-iran-navy-war.html>
, but the former?s wariness upset Iranian officials, who felt that it left
the Bushehr exposed to a follow-up attack, according to two people with
direct knowledge of the diplomatic conversations. They asked not to be
identified because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

The Sri Lankan government was unable to reach a quick decision, weighing
its national interests against its obligations under international law to
help a vessel in distress.

The government?s trepidation illustrated the challenge many countries face
as they try to avoid incurring the Trump administration?s wrath.

Iran called the attack on the Dena an ?atrocity.? Pete Hegseth, the U.S.
secretary of defense, reveled in the torpedoing
<https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/04/us/politics/submarine-torpedo-iran-ship.html>
 of an Iranian warship that ?thought it was safe in international waters,?
one of more than 50 Iranian warships the U.S. said it has destroyed
<https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/05/world/middleeast/iran-navy-ships-war.html>
.

For Sri Lanka ? a small country of 22 million people that has endured
political corruption and strife, crushing national debt and a devastating
cyclone last year ? a geopolitical misstep could cause further economic
damage.

It now must decide what to do with the 32 sailors it rescued from Dena and
more than 200 taken ashore from the Bushehr. Sri Lanka?s defense ministry
said it had sent a communiqu? to Tehran and was waiting to hear back. In
the meantime, the sailors have been given 30-day visas.

Galle?s chief magistrate has directed the hospital to move the 84 bodies it
recovered to the Iranian embassy.

India, too finds itself wedged
<https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/05/world/middleeast/iranian-warship-torpedo-india-exercises.html>
 between Iran and the United States as it harbors the Lavan, docked in a
busy commercial hub in Kochi, and houses its crew of 183 ? mostly young
cadets ? in nearby naval facilities.

A Surprise Visit
Around two weeks before the Dena was torpedoed, the three Iranian ships
were among dozens of vessels and naval personnel from more than 70
countries that took part in peacetime naval exercises off the southeastern
Indian city of Visakhapatnam.

Vessels from several European countries, including Russia, and even a
reconnaissance
aircraft
<https://www.navy.mil/Press-Office/News-Stories/display-news/Article/4417628/us-navy-concludes-participation-in-multilateral-exercise-milan-2026/>
 from the United States participated in the drills, held under the motto
?Camaraderie, Cooperation, Collaboration.?

Iranian sailors stood at attention on board the Dena as President Droupadi
Murmu of India presided over a fleet review during the 10-day extravaganza,
hosted by the Indian Navy.

The commander of the Sri Lankan contingent met with a senior Iranian Navy
officer in India and invited his navy to visit Sri Lanka ? the kind of
routine courtesy often extended to other countries, according to Sri Lankan
officials.

The request caught Sri Lanka by surprise, especially when they discovered
that the flotilla was already close to Galle, an old port city toward the
southern part of the island, about 800 nautical miles from Visakhapatnam.

As Sri Lanka pulled together the paperwork, the United States and Israel
started airstrikes on Iran on Feb. 28. That gave Sri Lanka pause.
Government officials said they were worried that letting in the vessels
might bring the conflict to its shores, even though they recognized that
the Iranian ships were easier targets if they remained in international
waters.

Iranian officials had also reached out to India on Feb. 28 seeking safe
haven. India gave permission the following day, according to government
officials in New Delhi. But only the Lavan reached India, ?presumably?
because it was closest, S. Jaishankar, India?s external affairs minister,
said on Saturday.

Fury, Confusion and Dismay
The distress signals started coming in at 5:08 a.m. on March 4, originating
about 19 nautical miles from Galle. The Dena had been struck
<https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/04/us/politics/submarine-torpedo-iran-ship.html>
 by a Mark-48 heavyweight torpedo ? designed to snap a ship from underneath.

Sri Lanka?s navy and air force rushed to mount a rescue, with India sending
assistance later. They found bodies and life rafts amid oil slicks in the
sea, but no sign of the warship. The first victims reached Galle later that
morning. Rescue teams ? some of them in hazmat suits ? lifted bodies from
navy vessels and lifeboats onto stretchers and rushed them to the hospital.

Surviving Iranian crew members, many of them young cadets, came in with
broken bones and head and chest injuries. Some had spinal fractures ? a
doctor examining them said that was probably because the blast propelled
them upward before they landed heavily.

On Tuesday, Sri Lanka called off its search with around 20 people still
missing.

The United States hasn?t said whether it gave the Iranian sailors any
warnings before the strike, but Iranian and Sri Lankan officials said they
were not given any. The Iranian government said that the Dena was unarmed
and defenseless. The U.S. Indo-Pacific Command disputed that claim
<https://x.com/INDOPACOM/status/2030357666342772882?s=20> in a social media
post.

But the Dena wasn?t the only ship out there.

The Bushehr, a smaller naval vessel sometimes used as a training ship, was
also waiting for Sri Lanka to let it in. Less than a week earlier, on Feb.
27, Sri Lanka had brought ashore an injured Iranian sailor from the ship
for treatment, determining that it had an obligation to provide
humanitarian assistance under international maritime laws.

But the Bushehr itself, with more than 200 crew, remained in international
waters to Sri Lanka?s west, closest to Colombo, the capital and a busy
commercial port. Officials from Sri Lanka?s foreign ministry held extensive
discussions with their Iranian counterparts when the Bushehr reported that
one of its engines was damaged, which strengthened its case for safe harbor
on humanitarian grounds.

On March 5, Sri Lanka took the Bushehr into custody. The two sides agreed
the crew would disembark in Colombo that day and the ship would sail to a
smaller port in Trincomalee, to the country?s northeast.

That night, President Anura Kumara Dissanayake of Sri Lanka said
<https://www.news.lk/current-affairs/views-expressed-by-president-anura-kumara-dissanayake-at-the-special-media-briefing-held-at-the-presidential-secretariat>
 his government had been caught in a quandary. In a televised address, he
said that the country?s neutrality, particularly in the context ?of the
Middle East conflict,? dictated that it could not ?permit our land
territory, maritime zones or airspace to be utilized in a biased manner by
any nation engaged in a conflict.?

But he said they also had to abide by international laws, including the
1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, which has guidelines
about helping ships in distress.

Alireza Delkhosh, Iran?s ambassador to Sri Lanka, told reporters in Colombo
the day after that being neutral did not mean taking no action. ?Neutrality
is saying, everybody should care about international law and international
regulations,? he said.

India has not commented on what its next steps are. Mr. Jaishankar said
India had offered the ships safe haven on humanitarian grounds. The
flotilla had ?got caught on the wrong side of events,? he said.
Anupreeta Das covers India and South Asia for The Times. She is based in
New Delhi.


------------------------------

Message: 2
Date: Fri, 13 Mar 2026 16:22:45 +0900
From: Vivek Pinto <[email protected]>
To: Goanet <[email protected]>
Subject: [Goanet] Read: "War in Iran Has India Wondering How to Keep
	Its Stovetops Lit"
Message-ID:
	<CAH3OY9wohy+_hBvR=MRqOA4EWuCggzPXqFkT3zkjqB8XYYBa1A-JsoAwUIsXosN+BqQ9rBEUg@public.gmane.org>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"

By: Pragati K.B. and Alex Travelli - Reporting from New Delhi
Published in: *The New York Times*
Date: March 13, 2026

India relies on huge quantities of cooking gas that is normally shipped
from the Persian Gulf.

In kitchens across India, the familiar blue flame of a gas stove symbolizes
both modern convenience and successful policymaking. This week, that flame
flickered.

War in the Middle East has threatened the supply of the liquefied petroleum
gas that powers India?s homes, restaurants and industries.

The immediate anxiety is about cooking gas, for the billion-plus Indians
who rely on it every day. Worries are growing over India?s dependence on an
imported fuel, the delayed efforts to protect household supplies and a
panic that may have worsened the disruption.

India is the world?s second-largest importer of liquefied petroleum gas,
after China, burning about 31 million tons a year. Roughly 60 percent of
that is imported, mostly via the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway that
provides passage from the Persian Gulf to the open sea. The rest is made in
India, mainly as a byproduct from crude-oil processing.

When missiles started flying between Iran and the Arab states on Feb. 28,
in the aftermath of attacks by the United States and Israel, shipping
through the strait came to a halt.

In the following days, rumors of a shortage of liquefied petroleum gas
ricocheted across India?s cities, setting off hoarding and a brisk black
market in the metal cylinders used to transport the gas. The government?s
initial response consisted of the occasional reassuring social-media post
by a cabinet minister.

Market analysts said there was an urgent need for clear, accountable
communication.

On Wednesday, officials from the oil ministry insisted that household
deliveries were largely normal, with an average delivery time of about two
and a half days, and urged consumers not to order more than they needed.

Demand has doubled in some cities, creating the very shortages consumers
feared. Customers in cities like Kolkata and Hyderabad waited hours to buy
gas cylinders, some clutching their receipts and hoping for delivery trucks
that never came.

Most of India?s liquefied petroleum gas is used in household cooking, but a
vital portion goes to commercial use. To protect household kitchens, the
authorities tightened the supply to restaurants, hotels and small
businesses.The scarcity of commercial cylinders has prompted warnings from
restaurant associations that operations could slow or even halt.

Vidyarthi Bhavan, a famous eatery in Bengaluru that was established in
1943, reduced its seating capacity and quietly dropped fried items from its
menu. The cashier said the kitchen had enough gas for perhaps two more days.

Elsewhere, restaurants have begun removing dishes that require a long
flame, like slow-simmered gravies and dosas, as gas supplies grow
uncertain. Some have switched to electric-induction cooktops or firewood. A
dumpling chain, Wok & Fork, pleaded on social media: Take one commercial
gas cylinder to your nearest outlet and receive 50 plates of momos in
return.

The crisis has spread beyond restaurants. Brick and tile makers, ceramics
and glass kilns, crematories, laundries and hospital kitchens are all
struggling to keep operations running, while bakeries, street-food vendors
and community kitchens face cuts.

On Sunday, eight days after the war began, the government ordered
oil-refining companies to maximize production of liquefied petroleum gas.
That meant diverting propane and butane ? the main components of the gas ?
from the manufacture of other petrochemical products. India?s liquefied
petroleum gas production has increased 28 percent since the government
instituted the order, according to the petroleum ministry.

The government?s main mistake was to wait more than a week before telling
the refineries to push all their crude and natural gas into liquefied
petroleum gas production, said Duttatreya Das, an analyst at Ember, a
global energy think tank and a former official with India?s national oil
and gas company.

?There was a good week, after the war began, when things were unsure,? he
said. ?The government did not prioritize L.P.G. enough.?

Catching up will prove painful. The country, Mr. Das said, is now ?staring
at a shortage of 25 percent for the coming quarter.?

On Thursday, the minister for petroleum and natural gas, Hardeep Singh
Puri, told Parliament that India?s sources of liquefied petroleum gas were
being ?actively diversified,? with cargoes being secured from the United
States, Norway, Canada, Algeria and Russia, in addition to available Gulf
sources.

The crisis reflects how deeply the gas has become embedded in India?s
everyday life over the past decade.

The prime minister, Narendra Modi, introduced a popular program in 2016
that provided gas connections to poor households. It substantially expanded
access to clean cooking fuel for families that would otherwise be burning
wood, scrap or cow dung in their kitchens. The gas became nearly universal,
spreading to more than 330 million households in 2025 from 145 million a
decade earlier.

But the same transition has also increased the country?s dependence on
imports, and its exposure to geopolitical shocks.

For now, the blue flame still burns in most Indian homes. As for
restaurants, they are adapting.

?Customers used to ask waiters if idli, dosa, bajji was available,? said
Paramesh G., manager of Indraprastha Veg, another restaurant in Bengaluru.
?Now they ask if gas is available.?
Pragati K.B. is a reporter for The Times based in New Delhi, covering news
from across India.
Alex Travelli is a correspondent based in New Delhi, writing about business
and economic developments in India and the rest of South Asia.


End of Goanet Digest, Vol 21, Issue 133
***************************************