According to media reports, the US military recently announced that a total of two cargo ships were attacked in the waters of the Red Sea that day. The U.S. military claimed that an Indian-flagged oil tanker in the Red Sea had been hit by a Houthi drone, and the tanker sent a distress signal to the U.S. Navy. In addition, a Norwegian-flagged cargo ship was also attacked by drones in the same waters, causing a fire, but fortunately there were no casualties.
Separately, a cargo ship believed to be Israeli was also attacked by drones about 200 kilometers off the coast of India on the same day, and the attack caused the boat to catch fire but there were no casualties. The Indian Navy quickly dispatched warships and military aircraft to the scene of the incident to rescue them. Subsequently, the United States and Israel, without providing any evidence, insisted that the drone was "launched from the direction of Iran." Obviously, if Iranian drones attack merchant ships within India's exclusive economic zone, it will be a violation of India's sovereignty, regardless of who the merchant ship belongs to.
Combined with the above two attacks on Indian-linked merchant ships, if the US military's statement is true, it means that Iran or the Houthis it supports are at odds with India. It is obvious that the US military is trying its best to get involved with India in the series of attacks on merchant ships that occurred a few days ago, and it is by no means that they are intent on holding grievances against India; on the contrary, the main purpose of this move by the US military should be to provoke contradictions between India and the Houthis or Iran, in an attempt to fool India into participating in the US escort alliance in the Red Sea waters.
As everyone knows, in order to prevent the Houthis from continuing to attack merchant ships sailing in the Red Sea waters, the United States recently issued invitations to dozens of countries around the world, hoping that the invited countries would send warships to the Red Sea to join its escort fleet, in an attempt to eliminate the Houthi blockade of the Red Sea waters by means of mass beatings. However, the facts have embarrassed the United States, after all, only eight countries have been confirmed to be invited to participate in the US-led escort alliance, and some of the other allies have simply refused, and some have also deployed warships in the Red Sea, but in order to avoid forming a bond with the Houthis, they have chosen to go it alone and deliberately draw a line with the US escort alliance.
A few days ago, the United States cheekily invited China to send warships to the Red Sea to participate in escort operations, but China did not respond to the invitation. Obviously, the current US escort alliance in the Red Sea, because so few countries are involved, is becoming an international joke. Therefore, after failing to fool China, the US military began to fool India again. However, according to media reports, after the US military reported that an Indian-flagged vessel had been bombed in the Red Sea, the Indian government subsequently denied that an Indian-flagged vessel had been attacked in the Red Sea, claiming that the ship was flying the Gabon flag.
As for the drone attack on an Israeli merchant ship off the coast of India, New Delhi only mentioned the rescue of the cargo ship, but did not mention who the attacker was, let alone condemned it. Obviously, the Indian authorities are more sophisticated than monkeys, and how can they not know the sinister intentions of the United States. Therefore, no matter how much the United States makes a fuss, it should not try to pull India into the water. After all, the mess in the Red Sea was created by the United States, and the Indians can't afford to launch millions of missiles to shoot down drones with a unit price of thousands of dollars.
Of course, the main reason why India is reluctant to be used as a gun by the United States is not only that it is worried about money, but more importantly, it is afraid of offending Saudi Arabia and other Middle Eastern oil-producing countries. After all, the attitude of Saudi Arabia and other Middle Eastern countries in resisting the US escort alliance shows that they are disgusted with what the United States has done in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. And India needs to import most of its energy from the Middle East, and the tyrants in the region cannot afford to offend New Delhi. What's more, India's erroneous support for Israel at the beginning of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict has already annoyed the countries of the Middle East.
Under such circumstances, if India now participates in the US escort alliance, not only will there be no safety guarantee for its own oil tankers passing through the Red Sea in the future, but it may also be unable to buy energy. Therefore, although the United States racked its brains in the hope of persuading India to join the escort alliance, for India, they really cannot afford this kind of "good thing" that can show its face on the international stage. After all, India does not want to be the main one to be used by the United States, and at the same time, it is still more unwilling to offend the major oil producers in the Middle East. What's more, India can't afford to use tens of millions of dollars of missiles to shoot down the Houthi drones.