"Need to give diplomacy a chance": Congress MP Manish Tewari over supply chain disruptions amid West Asia conflict

Speaking with the media, the Congress MP emphasised the difficulties for energy-consuming nations, citing implications of supply chain disruption on crude oil, natural gas, fertilisers, food and pharmaceuticals.

"The conflict has entered, probably its most dangerous phase. There are 3000 ships which are idling in the Gulf of Oman and the Persian Gulf. There is a need for everyone to dial down and to give diplomacy a chance. The criticality of the situation only gets more dire every moment for the energy-consuming nations, because it is not only about crude oil and natural gas, but also about fertilisers, food and pharmaceuticals, essential life-saving drugs. The whole supply chain has been disrupted. We have entered a sensitive phase in this conflict after 3 weeks of hostilities between Iran, the US and Israel," he said.

On Sunday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security to discuss the ongoing and proposed mitigating measures in the context of the ongoing West Asia Conflict.

According to the Prime Minister's Office, the Cabinet Secretary gave a detailed presentation on the global situation and the mitigating measures taken so far and being planned regarding the conflict by all concerned Ministries/Departments of the Government of India.

The expected impact and measures taken to address it across sectors like agriculture, fertilisers, food security, petroleum, power, MSMEs, exporters, shipping, trade, finance, supply chains and all affected sectors were discussed. The overall macro-economic scenario in the country and further measures to be taken were also discussed.

A detailed assessment of availability for critical needs of the common man, including food, energy and fuel security, was made. Short term, medium-term and long-term measures to ensure the continued availability of essential needs were discussed in detail.

The impact on farmers and their requirement for fertiliser for the Kharif season was assessed. The measures taken in the last few years to maintain adequate stocks of fertilisers will ensure timely availability and food security.

It was also determined that an adequate supply of coal stocks at all power plants will ensure no shortage of electricity in India.

Several measures were discussed to diversify sources of imports required by chemicals, pharmaceuticals, petrochemicals and other industrial sectors. Similarly, new export destinations to promote Indian goods will be developed in the near future.

Meanwhile, as the conflict between the US-Israel and Iran enters its fourth week, the Iranian Armed Forces headquarters has said that it is ready to close the Strait of Hormuz "indefinitely" if the United States threatens to bomb Iranian energy facilities, CNN reported.This comes as the US President on Saturday said that he would bomb Iranian infrastructure if the Strait of Hormuz was not open to shipping in the next 48 hours. US Centcom said that U.S. forces are destroying Iranian naval targets that threaten international shipping in and near the Strait of Hormuz. (ANI)