New Delhi: A day after the US military publicly acknowledged striking and disabling the oil tanker MT Marivex in the Gulf of Oman, the Indian government on Tuesday (June 9) largely echoed Washington’s description of the episode while continuing to avoid directly identifying the United States as responsible for the attack.Speaking at the weekly media briefing, external affairs ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said the Palau-flagged vessel carrying 24 Indian crew members had been “disabled” off the coast of Oman and confirmed that there had been contact between the ship and the US Navy before the incident.“The ship MT Marivex was disabled off the coast of Oman. We have learnt that it is a Palau-flagged vessel. We also understand that there was some exchange of communication between the ship and the US Navy before the incident,” he said.The chronology closely tracks parts of the US military’s own account. In a statement on Monday, the US Central Command said an F-18 fighter aircraft launched from the USS Abraham Lincoln had fired a precision munition at the vessel after the crew “failed to comply with directions from US forces”. CENTCOM added that the ship had been “disabled” and was “no longer sailing to Iran”.While Jaiswal used the same term employed by the US military and referred to communication between the vessel and the US Navy, he did not say what disabled the tanker or who carried out the action.The comments marked New Delhi’s first public response to Monday’s incident, in which US forces struck the tanker as part of Washington’s ongoing blockade of Iranian ports.A separate statement issued by the defence ministry on Tuesday introduced another description of the episode, referring to a “missile attack” on the vessel but similarly omitting any reference to the United States.“The Indian Coast Guard’s Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) Mumbai received information regarding a missile attack on the Palau-flagged tanker MT Marivex, carrying 24 Indian crew members, anchored off Masirah, Oman at approximately 1420 hours on June 08, 2026,” the ministry said.The statement noted that the Coast Guard coordinated with Oman’s Maritime Search and Rescue Centre after receiving the alert and that all 24 Indian crew members were rescued by helicopters of the Oman Navy.At approximately 5 pm on Monday, the Omani authorities informed Indian counterparts that all crew members had been brought to safety and that there were no casualties or injuries, according to the ministry.The defence ministry’s account leaves unanswered who carried out the “missile attack”, despite CENTCOM’s public statement taking responsibility for disabling the vessel.On Monday, the US military said the Marivex had been attempting to sail to an Iranian port and was struck after failing to comply with instructions from American forces enforcing Washington’s blockade. The blockade was imposed following the escalation of the US-Iran conflict and forms part of a broader American effort to prevent maritime traffic linked to Iran.Sources said on Monday night that the US-sanctioned vessel had previously complied with warnings from US naval forces on three occasions but was disabled during a fourth attempt to reach an Iranian port. According to those sources, the ship had switched off its AIS transponder before the incident.Neither the external affairs ministry nor the defence ministry criticised the US action on Tuesday.The muted response contrasts with New Delhi’s reaction when Iranian forces fired on an Indian vessel earlier in the regional conflict.In April, India summoned Iran’s ambassador after the Indian-flagged container ship MV Sanmar Herald came under Iranian naval fire in the Strait of Hormuz. The external affairs ministry publicly expressed concern over the incident and sought an explanation from Tehran, while also raising the issue of maritime safety and freedom of navigation.The Modi government has not directly condemned the United States for triggering the broader conflict, which began with US and Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28. It did not condemn the US torpedo attack on the Iranian warship IRIS Dena near Sri Lanka on March 4, in which 104 sailors died – days after the vessel had attended exercises organised by the Indian Navy at Visakhapatnam.New Delhi’s public statements on the conflict have called on “all parties” to de-escalate without naming any side.