India's first reaction after Trump pauses US attack on Iran's energy sites: ‘Keeping a focused watch’

Hours after United States President Donald Trump announced a pause on attack on Iran's energy infrastructure, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Monday, March 23, said that it was closely monitoring the situation in the West Asia, three weeks into the conflict.

Addressing an inter-ministerial briefing on the recent development in West Asia, MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said that the ministry is focusing on such activities as the situation evolves amid the conflict.

“We are closely following the developments--as we always do. We are keeping a focused watch on all these activities,” Randhir Jaiswal said.

The remarks came after Donald Trump announced that the Us Department of War won't be targeting Iran's energy sites for five days, citing ongoing diplomatic engagements with Tehran amid escalating tensions in West Asia.

He added that the decision to pause the attacks on Iranian energy infrastructure was taken considering the “tenor and tone” of the discussions, which he described as “in-depth, detailed, and constructive”.

Trump also announced that the conversations will continue through the week.

The Truth Social post read: “I am please to report that the United States of America, and the country of Iran, have had, over the last two days, very good and productive conversations regarding a complete and total resolution of our hostilities in the Middle East.”

“Based on the tenor and tone of these in depth, detailed, and constructive conversations, witch will continue throughout the week, I have instructed the Department of War to postpone any and all military strikes against Iranian power plants and energy Infrastructure for a five day period, subject to the success of the ongoing meetings and discussions. Thank you for your attention to this matter!” it added.

The move marks a shift from Trump's earlier stance, in which he had issued a 48-hour ultimatum to Iran to reopen the strategically significant Strait of Hormuz, warning of severe consequences if the demand was not met.

In an earlier post on Truth Social, Donald Trump had threatened Iran and gave it 48 hours to “fully open” the channel within 48 hours, or the United States would target and "obliterate" Iranian power plants.

The post read: “If Iran doesn't FULLY OPEN, WITHOUT THREAT, the Strait of Hormuz, within 48 HOURS from this exact point in time, the United States of America will hit and obliterate their various POWER PLANTS, STARTING WITH THE BIGGEST ONE FIRST!”

Following the threat, Iran issued a warning to the United States, that any attack on the country's southern coast and islands will be met with the obstruction of the Gulf routes.

"Immediately after the power plants and infrastructure in our country are targeted, the critical infrastructure, energy infrastructure, and oil facilities throughout the region will be considered legitimate targets and will be destroyed in an irreversible manner, and the price of oil will remain high for a long time," Ghalibaf stated in his post.

The council said that all access routes in the Gulf will be mined with various types of sea mines, including the floating mines.

"Any attempt to attack Iran's coasts or islands will cause all access routes in the Gulf (...) to be mined with various types of sea mines, including floating mines that can be released from the coast," Iran's Defence Council said in a statement.

“In this case, the entire Gulf will practically be in a situation similar to the Strait of Hormuz for a long time (...) One should not forget the failure of more than 100 minesweepers in the 1980s in removing a few sea mines.”

(With agency inputs)