India, US Discuss West Asia Conflict, Maritime Trade, and Strategic Partnership

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar met US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in New Delhi.

Discussions centered on the West Asia conflict and securing maritime trade. Key topics included global order, civil nuclear cooperation, defense, trade, terrorism, and migration. Both nations emphasized their strategic partnership and shared interests.

External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar held key delegation-level talks with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in New Delhi on Sunday with focus on the West Asia conflict and secure maritime trade through the Strait of Hormuz.

The two leaders discussed a range of issues, including global order, civil nuclear cooperation, defence, trade agreement, terrorism, and migration.

"In terms of the political understanding between India and the United States, we have a strategic partnership which emanates from a convergence of national interests in many areas," Jaishankar said, adding that Rubio's call on Prime Minister Narendra Modi inlcuded discussions on some global and regional issues.

He stated that the two countries took up developments pertaining to West Asia, the Indian subcontinent, and East Asia in the subsequent meetings. "Our talks today over lunch will focus on the latest developments in the Gulf. A few things have happened or seem to be happening overnight, and also on the Ukraine conflict," he added.

Rubio said progress had been made in the past 48 hours on efforts towards resolving the Iran conflict. "The Strait of Hormuz is an international waterway, and what they are doing now is basically they are threatening to destroy commercial vessels using an international waterway that is illegal under any concept of international law... Some progress over the last 48 hours working with our partners in the Gulf region on an outline that could ultimately, if it succeeds, leave us not just with a completely open Strait of Hormuz, and I mean open Strait without tolls," he said.

With India's good relations with US, Israel, Iran and the Gulf countries, Jaishankar said, "The challenge in this situation is how to maintain all these relationships, how to protect our equities, how to advance our interests. We don't look at it as a zero-sum game. We have to manage and take care of all these accounts...So in that sense, yes, it is multi-alignment because today's India has that range of interests which require us to manage multiple accounts."

He presented India's stance on the ongoing Gulf conflict, demanding peace and stability in the region, and welfare and well-being of the disapora. He stated that India wants to see energy prices go down because New Delhi is a very big importer of energy, and much of it comes from that region. The government is in favour of safe and unimpeded maritime commerce through the region and wants to see the markets open up again.

India, US discuss key issues

During the key meeting held on Sunday, Jaishankar and Rubio discussed the importance of taking into account the Make in India approach and the lessons drawn from recent conflicts while going forward in the defence domain.

They also spoke about the value of concluding the final text of the interim agreement regarding reciprocal and mutually beneficial trade at an early date. Calling it an important step towards a comprehensive bilateral trade agreement which was envisaged during PM Modi's visit in February 2025, Jaishankar expects that an American team will be visiting India soon for the trade pact.

The two sides discussed energy issues and welcomed the expansion in energy trade in recent months. Jaishankar noted that diversified supplies are at the heart of energy security for India. They also devoted some time to nuclear energy cooperation, as the passage of the Shanti Act has opened up new possibilities. We hope to realise the potential of cooperation in the nuclear domain, Jaishankar said, adding that he raised with the Secretary some regulatory issues that India has on the American side.

'India is one of America's most important strategic partners'

The US Secretary Rubio emphasised the growing depth of the US-India relationship, highlighting New Delhi as one of Washington's most important strategic partners globally.

Addressing the joint press conference, Rubio said the relationship between the two democracies goes beyond conventional diplomatic engagement and reflects deep strategic alignment on global challenges.

"A strategic partnership is something very different," Rubio said. "A strategic partnership is when your interests as two nations are aligned, and you work together strategically to solve those problems."

Rubio emphasised that the list of issues that India and US work together on, the breadth and scope of them, is what highlights the fact that New Delhi is an important strategic partner of the United States, one of our most important strategic partners in the world.

"It begins with the fact of our shared values. We are the two largest democracies in the world. And so obviously that in and of itself begins to align our interests simply because our leaders respond directly to voters and people on a regular basis," he added.

Jaishankar highlighted that India and the United States have common interests, but they also face shared challenges with terrorism being among the prominent one. "We appreciate the strong cooperation between the concerned agencies of our two countries in this domain. I particularly recognised the extradition from the United States to India last year of a key planner of the 26/11 Mumbai attacks. Our two countries will intensify cooperation bilaterally as well as in relevant international forums," the minister said.

Jaishankar stated India's broad position across a range of regional and global issues in five key points:

We advocate dialogue and diplomacy to address conflicts.

We support safe and unimpeded maritime commerce.

We demand scrupulous respect for international law.

We are against the weaponisation of market shares and resources.

We believe in the value of trusted partnerships and resilient supply chains to de-risk the global economy.

US visa regulations

Rubio accepted the contribution that Indians have made to the US economy, and said over $20 billion has been invested in the US economy by Indian companies, and America wants that number to continue to increase.

On the question of recent changes in J1 visa, F1, H-1B visa, Rubio said, "The changes that are happening now, or the modernisation of our migration system into the United States, are not India-specific; it is global, it's being applied across the world."

Citing a period of modernisation, Rubio said that US had a migratory crisis, not because of India, but broadly it had over 20 million people illegally enter the United States over the last few years.

"Everything that you do as a country needs to be in your national interest, and that includes your immigration policy."

The United States is the most welcoming country in the world on immigration, the Secretary asserted, adding, "Every single year, a million people, roughly, become permanent residents of the United States and contribute greatly. But it has to be a process that's adjusted in every era to the realities of the modern times in which you live. We are, and it's long overdue."

The US is currently undergoing a process of reforming the system by which it choosees how many people come into thecountry, who comes in, when they come in, etc., he said. "Anytime you undertake a reform, any time you undertake a change in the system by which you admit people, there's going to be a period of transition that's going to create some friction points and some difficulties and so forth."

Reiterating his stance on India, Rubio said, "It is not a system that is targeted at India; it is one that's being applied globally. But we're in a period of transition, and like any period of transition, there's going to be some bumps on that road."

During the meeting, Jaishankar apprised Secretary Rubio of the challenges that legitimate travellers face in respect of visa issuance. "While we cooperate to deal with illegal and irregular mobility, our expectation is that legal mobility would not be adversely impacted as a consequence," he said.