Palau-flagged vessel ignored 60 warnings before US strike, killing 3 Indians

Palau-flagged vessel Settebello at the centre of the India-US standoff had ignored close to 60 verbal warnings before it came under fire from US forces last week, resulting in the deaths of 3 Indian nationals.

According to remarks by a US official, which were reported by AP from Washington, the vessel also did not heed repeated display of force by military aircraft like flares and flyovers meant to warn against violating the American blockade in the Gulf of Oman.

External affairs minister S Jaishankar raised the issue with his counterpart Marco Rubio describing as unacceptable use of lethal force against civilian shipping.

Rubio told him that the US would not tolerate any attempt to evade the blockade.

However, the latest remarks by a US official sequencing developments that led to the attack are possibly meant to convey to Indian authorities that US forces had not acted in a reckless manner in launching strikes on Settebello and 2 other foreign-flagged ships in the past week.

The US is yet to express any regret for the deaths of Indian mariners.

The US Navy had on Sunday alerted shore authorities and Indian Navy about a sinking dhow with 14 Indians and also helped in the rescue operations.

The vessel attack issue is expected to come up in PM Narendra Modi’s meeting with President Donald Trump on Wednesday on the margins of the G7 summit in France.

This will be their first meeting since February 2025, when Modi travelled to Washington for a bilateral visit.

“The tanker disabled by the American military while trying to run the US blockade of Iran had dismissed nearly 60 verbal warnings as well as other shows of force before being fired upon, the official told AP.

“The ship’s crew also ignored eight shows of force by military aircraft that included fired flares and flyovers, as well as two final warnings before being fired upon Wednesday, according to the official, who was not authorized to publicly discuss the sensitive matter and spoke on condition of anonymity,” said the report.

The official described the vessel as a shadow fleet ship that had been used to illegally transfer Iranian oil and evade sanctions and was seen trying to break the blockade multiple times.

The official also noted that US forces communicated with the ship dozens of times over two weeks before the day when the ship was disabled.