While U.S. President Donald Trump rarely raises human rights, some elements of his base have expressed concerns over the treatment of Christians under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, making U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s choice of first stop highly symbolic.
Ahead of the trip, Mr. Rubio called India a “great ally, great partner” and said the United States would be looking to find ways to sell it more oil.
India’s fast-growing economy is reliant on energy imports and like many countries has been rattled by the U.S.-Israeli attack on Iran, which retaliated by choking off the strategic Strait of Hormuz, sending global oil prices soaring.
India has historic ties with Iran but also a growing relationship with Israel, which Modi visited just days before the war.
But the conflict has also seen the re-emergence as a key U.S. partner of India’s traditional adversary Pakistan, which has positioned itself as a mediator, with its powerful army chief flying on Friday (May 22, 2026) to Tehran.
The United States was a Cold War partner of Pakistan but increasingly took a distance as it prioritized relations with India, seeing the world’s largest democracy as a natural partner in a global order marked by China’s rise. — AFP
