The ​latest fighting marks a sharp escalation in Yemen’s civil war, which had largely been frozen since a 2022 truce.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

(This article is part of the View From India newsletter curated by The Hindu’s foreign affairs experts. To get the newsletter in your inbox every Monday, subscribe here.)

War is the reality of our times. Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine began over four years ago. It is nearly three years since the United States-Israel combine’s war, termed by many experts as genocidal, began. And the U.S. war on Iran, triggered by the joint U.S.-Israeli strikes on February 28, 2026, has lasted nearly seven months. The U.S. also appears fearful about a rapid escalation in West Asia after the Houthis attacked Riyadh recently.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s actions have repeatedly shown us that where he cannot take on an adversary on the battlefield, he will turn to tariffs and sanctions. In a move aimed at increasing the economic pressure on Russia over its war in Ukraine, U.S. lawmakers voted to pass a sweeping bill last week, imposing sanctions on Russia’s defence and energy sectors. The steep levies that entail the legislation, passed with strong bipartisan support on Wednesday, will impact not just Moscow, but also its top energy buyers, including India and China.  

“On Friday, September 18, 2026, the President signed into law: H.R. 5334, the “Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026”, which authorizes and expands statutory sanctions, tariffs, and prohibitions on Russia and extends existing sanctions on Iran,” the White House said.

In a statement reacting to the move, the Ministry of External Affairs said, “India remains firmly committed to ensuring energy security for its 1.4 billion people” via diversified sourcing of energy inputs, determined according to evolving market forces. India would also “protect its trade and economic interests”. Read Sriram Lakshman’s report for context on the legislation.

The Hindu’s Economics and Business Editor T.C.A. Sharad Raghavan has been closely tracking developments around this move, as well as trends in India’s oil imports. He combed through the latest official data and found out that Russia accounted for more than 51% of India’s oil imports in July, an all-time-high.

His analysis of data from the Ministry of Commerce and Industry showed that India imported 110.4 lakh tonnes of oil from Russia in July 2026, the latest month for which data is available. This works out to nearly 52% of India’s total oil imports that month, the highest-ever share that Russian oil has enjoyed. India’s oil imports from Russia in July 2026 were also 26% higher than in June, and nearly 55% higher than in July last year. This sharp increase in volumes, coupled with elevated oil prices, also meant that India’s Russian oil import bill shot up in July 2026 as compared to last year. That is, India’s import bill on Russian oil stood at $7.3 billion in July 2026 more than double the $3.6 billion spent in July last year.  

Writing on how the new legislation and the subsequent sanctions are likely to affect India, T.C.A. Sharad Raghavan notes: The impact on India’s economy has to be looked at in terms of two eventualities. The first is if India continues to buy large quantities of Russian oil and bears the tariffs. The second is if India cuts back on Russian oil imports and manages to have the potential tariffs removed. In the event that India continues to buy Russian oil and bears the tariffs, we can look at what happened during the period when the 50% tariffs were in force, between August 2025 and February 2026, to gauge the likely impact.

Further, along with our colleague Kallol Bhattacherjee, he looked at data to see how India has responded to U.S. curbs in the past decade. Over the last decade or so, India has complied with U.S. pressure to reduce oil imports from countries it has sought to isolate, such as Venezuela, Iran, and Russia, even though they were important sources. Once the U.S. pressure eased, official data show that India almost immediately turned back to these sources of oil, they wrote.

The economic impact is one aspect, the political impact and the diplomatic fallout are other aspects to consider. However one may see it, it is hard to ignore the serious escalation in tensions between the U.S. and India, as our editorial today makes clear.

“The escalation last year of reciprocal tariffs to 50% on India’s import of Russian oil was based on an Executive Order, and could be rescinded through the same method. This latest Act has been passed by the U.S. Congress and so carries a higher order of legal permanence and authority,” it observed, adding: “India’s ability to secure a low rate will be a true test of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s friendship with Mr. Trump.”

In our neighbourhood 

Closer to home, New Delhi continues navigating sensitive ties with India’s neighbours. Nepal’s Finance Minister Swarnim Wagle, an economist and former UNDP official, made his first visit abroad to Delhi to discuss plans with the government, and will soon travel to meetings of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), International Monetary Fund (IMF), and the World Bank to seek support for an estimated $5 billion recovery project. In an exclusive interview with The Hindu’s Diplomatic Affairs Editor Suhasini Haidar, Mr. Wagle said the new Balen Shah government in Nepal wants a “reset” with India, and a revision of old trade and connectivity projects.

Meanwhile, Kallol Bhattacherjee reports that after a brief disruption in ties, India and Bangladesh have resumed official-level talks to firm up plans for a visit by Prime Minister Tarique Rahman to New Delhi.

Published – September 21, 2026 12:30 pm IST

Smoke rises following strikes during ongoing fighting between Houthi and Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces along the frontlines in al-Kadha, west of Taiz in western Yemen, on September 16, 2026.
| Photo Credit: AFP

U.S. military and civilian officials have told their Saudi counterparts in recent ‌weeks that Trump’s directive is to keep American forces focused on Iran and safeguarding the Strait of Hormuz. FIle
| Photo Credit: AP

A commercial vessel passes through an international shipping lane off Yemen’s Hanish Island in the Red Sea. File.
| Photo Credit: AFP

Marine traffic transiting the Bab el-Mandeb in the Red Sea has fallen after Houthis struck Saudi oil ‌installations along the Red Sea coast on Sunday (July 26, 2026). Reports said only 11 vessels passed through the strait. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters

It’s not every day a country dares to ignore the mighty America. Most nations know that defying the US President may result in a stern warning, maybe a bit of diplomatic cold shoulder or, in the worst-case scenario, a new set of sanctions. But then again, not every leader is Benjamin Netanyahu. The Israeli Prime Minister seems to have perfected the art of dodging President Joe Biden’s advice – without much harm to himself.

Last week, the most powerful leader of the most powerful country found himself, shall we say, whining about ‘Bibi’ – as Netanyahu’s nickname goes – almost like a disappointed father admonishing his beloved but mischievous son. Answering a reporter in the hallowed White House, Biden wore a look of betrayal, complaining, “No administration has helped Israel more than I have. None. None. None. And I think Bibi should remember that.” The scene was shocking. Biden must have been so pained that his words felt less like diplomacy and more like a hapless parent wondering why his rebellious son does not listen to him anymore.

The reporter’s question was directly related to a nagging suspicion in Democratic Party circles that the Israeli Prime Minister was deliberately dragging his feet on a ceasefire in Gaza, proposed by Biden in May. Biden echoed that view and wondered whether Netanyahu was stalling the proposed ceasefire until the US Presidential election on November 5. The President said, “And whether he is trying to influence the election, I don’t know, but I am not counting on it”

Biden really shouldn’t have been shocked. After all, back when he was Vice-President under Obama, Netanyahu had the audacity to go right past the White House and address the Republican-dominated Congress to publicly trash the Iran nuclear deal. He was just biding his time, waiting for either Hillary or Trump to step in after the 2016 election and fix things. Then, Trump got elected. And what did he do? He cancelled the deal, handing Netanyahu exactly what he had been waiting for.

No One Is Sorry For Biden

Any sympathy for Biden’s heartbreak? There appears to be none. How ironic that now that he is on his way out, he is accusing Netanyahu of dragging his feet on a ceasefire. Up until now, Biden had been conveniently ignoring Bibi’s stalling tactics, instead pinning the blame squarely on Hamas every time talks broke down. Never mind that his own advisors and party leaders subtly hinted that Netanyahu wasn’t interested in any ceasefire deal-at least not until January 2025, when a new President enters the White House. It is obvious that Bibi is betting big on a Trump comeback. Under Trump’s Presidency, he believes he could have a free hand in West Asia.

Of course, no one’s suggesting that Israel is meddling in the US election. Right or wrong, the meddling accusations are reserved for China, Russia and Iran. But Biden’s point was clear: Netanyahu seems to be stalling the ceasefire, hoping to drag things out until the election. If a ceasefire happens earlier, Democratic Party nominee Kamala Harris might get a boost. But if things stay messy, Netanyahu’s old buddy Trump could swoop back in-and wouldn’t that be a convenient reunion?

Senator Chris Murphy, who is a close friend of President Biden, recently told CNN, “I don’t think you have to be a hopeless cynic to read some of Israel’s actions, some of Prime Minister Netanyahu’s actions, as connected to the American election”. Several US mainstream newspapers had carried stories in September quoting US officials as saying that they did not believe a deal would be reached during Biden’s Presidency

American Presidents’ Badges Of Honour

Foreign policy, let’s be real, rarely moves the needle in a US election. Yet every presidential candidate somehow convinces himself that if he doesn’t stand rock-solid with Israel, his chances of winning will diminish – despite no evidence to back that up. Since the 1973 Arab-Israeli war, every US president has proudly pledged to support Israel and zealously guarded its security. They worked tirelessly to broker peace deals between Israel and Palestinians or Arab nations. And those who succeeded at striking a peace deal wore it like a shiny badge of honour – even though some of those deals were, let’s just say, less than groundbreaking, and favoured Israel. A few examples:

• Camp David Accord, 1978. Jimmy Carter facilitated a historic peace agreement between Egypt and Israel, which led to Egypt recognising Israel and Israel returning the Sinai Peninsula back to Egypt
• Oslo Accord, 1993. Bill Clinton successfully mediated the first face-to-face agreement between Israel and the Palestinian Liberation Organisation(PLO), resulting in the Oslo Accord in 1993. It created a framework for future peace talks
• Roadmap for peace, 2003. George W. Bush pushed for a two-state solution through this agreement but he faced difficulties in implementing it
• Abraham Accords, 2020. Donald Trump brokered normalisation agreements for Israel with the UAE, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco, which reshaped West Asia relations. The next in line was a deal with Saudi Arabia, but last year’s deadly attack by Hamas on Israel derailed the peace process. Many critics of the accords argued that the agreements had completely sidestepped the Palestinians’ demands for a state

Biden’s Ironclad Support For Israel

In recent years, only two presidents – Joe Biden and his old boss Barack Obama – completely missed the peace deal train in West Asia, though Obama managed to strike a nuclear deal with Iran, which was later rescinded by Trump. Obama, in particular, had a famously chilly relationship with ‘Bibi’. In fact, it’s widely considered the worst personal dynamic ever between a US president and an Israeli prime minister. And that’s despite the two countries achieving peak security cooperation.

Biden may have failed to deliver any peace deal in West Asia, but make no mistake, under his presidency, Israel has got the maximum support. He has blindly backed Israel’s systematic destruction of Gaza and refused to put conditions on US military aid. Therefore, he was not really wrong when he complained on Friday that “no administration has helped Israel more than I have”.

The US Is Already At War

For years, the US has maintained the fiction that it is an honest peace broker and a neutral mediator in West Asia. But America’s role in the West Asia crisis is a perfect example of mixed signals. On one hand, it is supposedly working tirelessly to broker a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. On the other hand, it is arming Israel to the teeth, basically giving them the green light to keep pounding away in Gaza and Lebanon. And let’s not forget, Biden has made it crystal clear that he will jump to Israel’s defence if Iran even thinks about attacking them again. Honestly, many would argue that the US is already knee-deep in this conflict, considering it has helped Israel destroy Iranian missiles not once but twice since April, shares intel with the Israeli military daily, and has warships ready to roll in the Red Sea in defence of the Jewish state. This does not sound like a neutral referee in the region, does it?

The Trump administration finally dropped the mask when it openly sided with Israel against the Palestinians, which led to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas declaring the US as an untrustworthy peace broker. What infuriated the Palestinians was that they were disregarded in the Abraham Accords signed between Israel and a clutch of Arab states. Additionally, Trump’s controversial decision to move the US embassy to Jerusalem also angered the Palestinians.

Today, it is almost sickening to see how Biden is botching his ceasefire efforts by being unassertive. While he is blinded by his love for Israel, the world watches with bated breath, powerless to intervene. The UN Security Council has proven to be toothless. BRICS and G20 are disappointingly muted. It reminds this writer of a couple of lines from a Matthew Arnold poem, “Wandering between two worlds. One dead, the other powerless to be born”. 

(Syed Zubair Ahmed is a London-based senior Indian journalist with three decades of experience with the Western media)

Disclaimer: These are the personal opinions of the author

Yemen’s Houthi rebels conducted drone strikes in Israel’s Tel Aviv early this morning, backing the Palestinian and Lebanese wars against Israel. The operation achieved its goals as the drones successfully reached their targets, the Houthis said in a statement.

“The Drone Air Force of the Yemeni Armed Forces carried out a military operation targeting a vital target in the Yaffa area “Tel Aviv” in occupied Palestine using several Yaffa drones. The operation successfully achieved its goals, with the drones reaching their targets without the enemy being able to intercept or down them,” said statement read.

The armed forces said the attack, which was part of its fifth phase of the “Battle of the Promised Conquest”, was in support of the people of Palestine and Lebanon, and Hamas’s “Al-Aqsa Flood”.

Houthis rebels, who control most parts of Yemen and consider Israel their enemy, entered the war in support of the Hamas after the conflict started in the Middle East last year. They are part of Iran’s “Axis of Resistance” against Israel and the United States.

Houthis have fired multiple missiles at Israeli cities while Israel has been conducting airstrikes in Yemen, targeting crucial infrastructure including power plants. Seaports used by Houthi rebels to transfer Iranian weapons also came under attack in recent times.

With a floundering economy and growing restrictions on personal freedoms, 10 years of Houthi rule has left its mark on Yemen’s ancient capital, Sanaa, where some quietly long for how things once were.

The Houthis, a radical political-military group from Yemen’s northern mountains, have imposed strict rule over the large swathe of Yemen under their control, covering two-thirds of the population.

Since the Iran-backed rebels took power in Sanaa in 2014, after long-running protests against the government, the country has gone “back 50 years”, sighed Yahya, 39, who like many prefers not to share his full name for fear of reprisals.

“Before, we thought about how to buy a car or a house. Now we think about how to feed ourselves,” added Abu Jawad, 45.

Already the poorest country in the Arabian Peninsula, Yemen has been devastated by war since 2015, when a Saudi-led coalition launched a failed campaign to dislodge the Houthis.

Hundreds of thousands of people have died through fighting or indirect causes like hunger and disease, with much of the infrastructure in ruins.

Yemen, mired in one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, remains divided between the Houthis and the government, now based in the port city of Aden.

The Houthis, who adhere to the Zaidi branch of Shiite Islam and claim divine right to rule, have tightened their control over many aspects of daily life.

‘Men, women could sit together’

Sanaa, despite its conservatism, once had “political parties, active civic organisations, NGOs… coffee shops where males and females can sit together”, said researcher Maysaa Shuja al-Deen, of the Sanaa Center for Strategic Studies.

“Now the social and political atmosphere has become very closed,” she added.

Men and women are segregated in public, and Houthi slogans like “Death to America!” and “Death to Israel!” are plastered everywhere, alongside photos of Houthi leaders, Deen said.

Since 2015, Amnesty International has documented numerous cases of activists, journalists and political opponents who were convicted on “trumped-up” espionage charges.

A wave of arrests in June targeted aid workers, including 13 United Nations staff who are still detained.

Majed, the director of a Yemeni non-governmental organisation, said he fled Sanaa for Aden before taking refuge with friends in Jordan, leaving behind his wife and three children.

“I made the decision without thinking too much. Leaving was a risky choice, but it was the only one,” the 45-year-old said from Amman, where he hopes to find a job.

According to Deen, a Yemeni who is also based outside the country, it is now difficult to go against the ruling authorities, or even fail to show support.

“At the very beginning, being silent was an option. Now it’s not even an option,” she said.

“You have to show that you are loyal to the Houthi ideology.”

The Houthis are adept at using social and traditional media, such as their Al-Masirah TV station, to spread propaganda, and have even revised school textbooks and changed the calendar.

The traditional holiday of September 26, which celebrated the 1962 revolution against the former imam, has been moved to September 21, the day the Houthis took power.

Some Yemenis chafe at the change. “Even if they forbid us from celebrating officially, we will celebrate it in our hearts,” said Abu Ahmed, 53, a Sanaa resident.

‘I dream of getting my life back’

However, support for the Houthis’ attacks since November against Israel and ships in the Red Sea, in solidarity with Palestinians during the Israel-Hamas war, seems to be unanimous.

“The Yemenis have always been pro-Palestinian,” said author and Yemen specialist Helen Lackner, highlighting the hundreds of thousands of people who join the Huthis’ weekly demonstrations in Sanaa.

Despite their popularity among ordinary people, the maritime attacks have halted negotiations conducted between the rebels and Saudi Arabia to end the war.

Rim, 43, who has lived with her family in neighbouring Saudi for nine years, has not been able to return to Sanaa to bury her father, or attend the weddings of her brothers and sisters.

“I dream of getting my life back,” said the 43-year-old. In the meantime, she is content to talk to her children about her country.

“I don’t want them to forget that they are Yemeni.”