New Delhi: Indian foreign secretary Vikram Misri summoned Iran’s ambassador to India Mohammad Fathali on Saturday (April 18) evening, conveying “deep concern” at the firing on two Indian ships by Iranian gunboats in the Strait of Hormuz.The incidents took place as Iran has reimposed its retaliatory closure of the key strait, this time in response to the US’s continuing blockade of traffic through Iranian ports despite Tehran’s decision to open up the chokepoint to commercial traffic earlier this week.The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA)’s statement avoided the term ‘summon’, but indicated that Fathali was asked to meet the foreign secretary at Jawaharlal Nehru Bhawan on Saturday evening.“The Ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Iran in New Delhi was called in by the Ministry of External Affairs for a meeting with Foreign Secretary this evening. During the meeting, Foreign Secretary conveyed India’s deep concern at the shooting incident earlier today involving two Indian-flagged ships in the Strait of Hormuz,” said MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal.He also recalled that Iran had earlier facilitated the safe passage of several India-bound ships. “Reiterating his concern at this serious incident of firing on merchant ships, Foreign Secretary urged the Ambassador to convey India’s views to the authorities in Iran and resume at the earliest the process of facilitating India-bound ships across the Strait,” the MEA said in a statement. The Iranian ambassador undertook to convey these views to Tehran.News cameras positioned outside the MEA showed joint secretary for Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran, Anand Prakash, accompanying the envoy and shaking hands before the latter boarded his official car.The UK’s Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) Centre said that the master of a tanker reported being approached and fired upon by two gunboats of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in the Strait of Hormuz some 20 nautical miles northeast of Oman.“Tanker and crew are reported safe”, it added, without identifying the vessel.It also relayed that a container ship reported being hit by an unknown projectile that damaged some of the cargo onboard, although no fires or environmental impact were recorded. The incident took place in the strait at a location 25 nautical miles northeast of Oman, it said, again not identifying the vessel involved.Meanwhile the TankerTrackers maritime intelligence firm wrote on X citing radio communications that “firing was involved” in the IRGC Navy’s attempts to prevent two Indian vessels, including a very large crude carrier ferrying Iraqi oil, from transiting the strait.TankerTrackers also produced an audio recording it said was obtained from the maritime community, in which a sailor aboard the Indian-flagged Sanmar Herald oil tanker is purportedly heard telling the IRGC Navy that it is being fired at despite having been given clearance.“Sepah Navy! Motor Tanker Sanmar Herald! … You gave me clearance to go! My name second on your list! You gave me clearance to go! You are firing now! Let me turn back!,” the voice in the clip is heard saying.A live route map of the Sanmar Herald available on marinetraffic.com shows it attempting to transit the Strait of Hormuz in the morning local time, briefly heading west and then reappearing near the eastern part of the waterway before finally going back west again.Earlier on Saturday, Iran’s military announced that its control over the Strait of Hormuz “has returned to its previous state” and that the bottleneck is under its “strict management and control”.M.B. Ghalibaf, speaker of the Iranian parliament and the country’s chief negotiator amid the US and Israel’s war on Iran, had said that Washington’s decision to continue blockading Iranian ports despite Tehran’s re-opening of the strait amounted to a violation of their ceasefire.“With the continuation of the blockade, the Strait of Hormuz will not remain open,” he said.Iran had decided to reopen the strait to commercial traffic along its designated routes after Israel and Lebanon struck a US-mediated ceasefire on Thursday. Tehran had said that its own ceasefire with the US and Israel necessarily included Lebanon.But US President Donald Trump said that American forces would continue to blockade Iran regardless.India’s energy engagement with Iran has extended beyond transit facilitation during the conflict. State-run Indian Oil Corporation purchased two million barrels of Iranian crude aboard the tanker Jaya, the country’s first such purchase in seven years, under a temporary 30-day US sanctions waiver that permitted the sale of Iranian oil already loaded on vessels at sea.The waiver, issued by Washington in March, is set to expire on Sunday, with US treasury secretary Scott Bessent confirming it will not be renewed.Reliance Industries also allowed five vessels carrying Iranian crude to berth at its Sikka terminal in Gujarat, but rejected two oil cargoes due to “compliance requirements”, as per Reuters.Both companies settled the purchases in Chinese yuan, routed through ICICI Bank’s Shanghai office, as per media reports.Asked at the media conference if India has been buying Iranian crude oil using Chinese yuan, joint secretary at the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas Sujata Sharma said: “Meeting domestic demand is our utmost priority. Our OMCs [oil marketing companies] are operating within the rules.”This article was updated with more information at 11:11 pm on Saturday.