Jaishankar to speak on West Asia conflict in Parliament on March 9

External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar will make a statement in the Lok Sabha on Monday (March 9, 2026), after days of criticism from Opposition parties and several former Indian diplomats over the government’s “silence” on the conflict in West Asia.

A notice for the statement, regarding “The Situation in West Asia”, was added to the list of business for the lower house of Parliament on Sunday evening (March 8). He is expected to make the statement shortly before the Lok Sabha takes up the Opposition’s resolution against Speaker Om Birla.

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Over the past week, Opposition parties have censured the government for not criticising the U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran, including a school in which more than 150, mostly schoolgirls, were killed, and the targeting of other civilian infrastructure, although it has condemned Iran’s attacks on Gulf countries. The Congress questioned the timing of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Israel on February 25-26, just before the war began. On Sunday (March 8), Congress leader and former External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid said this was not the time for “politics” but urged the government to make a more vocal appeal to the U.S., Israel, and Iran to end the war.

“There was a time when India’s voice echoed, mattered, and was heard sincerely. This mass destruction must be stopped, and peace must be restored,” he said, after signing the condolence book at the Iranian Embassy.

Last week, the Opposition parties as well as several former Indian diplomats slammed the government for not raising with the U.S. its sinking of the Iranian Ship IRIS Dena, killing dozens of Iranian sailors returning from naval exercises with India, especially as India has pitched its naval power as the “net security provider” in the Indian Ocean Region.

At the Raisina Dialogue, Mr. Jaishankar said that the “reality” of the Indian Ocean was that it was not “limited to only the countries of the Indian Ocean”, dismissing the questions on the issue as “non-serious”.

Since U.S.-Israeli strikes on Tehran on February 28, which killed Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei with several members of his family and government, the Ministry of External Affairs has issued three statements calling for “dialogue and diplomacy” and expressing increasing levels of concern over the escalation of violence including Iran’s missile and drone attacks on Gulf countries targeting mainly U.S. bases and other installations.

In conversations with leaders across Gulf countries, including the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait, as well as Israel, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has discussed the situation, thanked them for helping Indian expatriates and visitors there, who number nearly 10 million, and “strongly condemned” the attacks by Iran.

Mr. Jaishankar has dialled his Gulf counterparts, spoken twice to Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and held talks with Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Saeed Khatibzadeh on the sidelines of the Raisina Dialogue in Delhi last week.

Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri visited the Iranian Embassy in Delhi on March 5 and signed the condolence book opened for Khamenei. India also allowed an Iranian ship, IRIS Lavan, to dock in Kochi and facilitate its crew members who were stranded in the Indian Ocean after the ship developed “technical issues”.