New Delhi, April 13 -- New Delhi must act urgently to gather a coalition of like-minded and like-affected countries to conduct diplomacy with the warring parties in West Asia. The goal is not so much to get them to stop fighting but to prevent their war from throwing the Indian and world economy into a severe crisis.

US President Donald Trump's announcement that the US will blockade the Strait of Hormuz for ships headed for or leaving Iran's ports threatens to impose pain and suffering on hundreds of millions of innocents.

In the wars that followed the Hamas attack on Israel in October 2023, New Delhi has studiously remained silent despite its nationals suffering injuries and death from Israeli military operations in Gaza and Lebanon. T...