Was MV Desh Shanti a case of a failed attempt by Iran at hostage taking?

As the Indian vessel MV Desh Shanti heads home after 24 days of detention, India is carefully reviewing the entire sequence of events to piece together what led to the situation which has left many observers perplexed and surprised. It will take 8 days for the ship released from captivity on 6th September at 11.45 pm to reach Mumbai, time enough to come to come to grips with a situation that surprised Indian decision makers and has left them searching for responses. Effectively what happened was that Iranian Revolutionary Guards boarded an Indian ship(MV Desh Shanti) in international waters on 12 August, made unfounded allegations about the ship’s involvement in pollution, forcibly took the ship to the Port of Bandar Abbas, and held it hostage for the next 24 days. During this period the Iranians made every effort in a vain bid to pressurise the Indian Government to intervene in an ongoing court case at the Bombay High Court to get the release of an Iranian ship ‘Dianthe’ currently under ‘arrest’ for non-payment of dues to a Singapore based bank. Readers can see this document, to get a clear picture of the complexities involved in the case of Iranian ship “Dianthe”, which is in Indian custody for over two years and the case is currently being heard by the Bombay High Court. [caption id=“attachment_1103193” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] It’s unlikely that President Rouhani’s government would sanction an operation of this nature against India, at a time when he plans to negotiate on the nuclear issue and end Iran’s international isolation. AP[/caption] Even as President Hassan Rouhani was still to firmly come to grips with the levers of authority and was yet to even appoint his Cabinet, a “rogue” operation was initiated independently by the IRGC to try and trade the Indian ship for the detained Iranian ship “Dianthe”, which is owned by a company (IRISL) that the IRGC controls. Well informed sources feel that it is unlikely that President Rouhani’s government would have sanctioned an operation of this nature against India, at a time when he plans to negotiate on the nuclear issue and end Iran’s international isolation. India is also one of the few countries that can continue to buy oil from Iran as it benefits from the ‘significant reduction’ exemption under the US sanctions. So the hostile actions by the IRGC against India, that go against the new Iranian Government’s plans to normalize ties with the international community, end Iran’s isolation, has left Indian officials completely perplexed. On the other hand, the constant changing of demands, the spurious allegations of marine pollution, the harsh treatment of the crew and the delay in release of the Indian ship for 48 hours after the orders for the release of the Indian Ship were issued by the Port and Maritime Organization (PMO) authorities in Tehran tends to indicate a ‘rogue’ operation by the IRGC. Iran’s decision to forcibly detain an Indian ship in the Persian Gulf after having boarded it in international waters (45 nautical miles from the Iranian coast) has disturbed shipping circles across the world. One western source said that Iran may have chosen an Indian ship as a soft target, but the fact is that it indulged in illegal ’enforcement’ activity in international waters in one of the most sensitive shipping lanes of the world. Numerous shipping lines, insurance companies and seamen organizations have been trying to contact Indian authorities to ascertain full details of the incident. It is becoming evident that the Iranian action is increasingly viewed across the globe as crossing a dangerous red line and imperiling the security of shipping lanes in the Persian Gulf. All this does not augur well for the region, for commercial shipping activities in the Gulf and above all the Indo-Iran relations. Iran continues to reel under crippling international sanctions. More importantly, Iran remains a pariah state given the West’s hard stance on its nuclear programme. At this point of time, more than ever before, Iran needs friends. India has been doing its damndest best to help Iran in this difficult period even at the risk of incurring diplomatic wrath of the West. India has also found out ways to circumvent international sanctions for doing trade with Iran. India has also declared its intention to increase its oil imports from Iran. India has been playing a high-stake diplomatic gamble in propping up Iran diplomatically, politically and economically. And yet the Iranians chose to indulge in a highly provocative act of illegally detaining an Indian merchant ship on flimsy and false grounds. For now, the MV Desh Shanti saga may have been concluded on all’s well that ends well note, Iran will do well to assure India at the highest political levels that it was a freak incident and that such incidents will not recur in future. The writer is a Firstpost columnist and a strategic analyst. He tweets @Kishkindha.