It is important to have a separate regional policy that accounts for the contradictions in a region, as a regional policy is not an aggregation of excellent bilateral policies, said T.S. Tirumurti, former Ambassador and Permanent Representative of India to the United Nations, New York, at Saveetha Institute of Medical and Technical Sciences (SIMATS), near Thandalam, which hosted The Hindu Diplomacy and Sustainability Dialogues 2026.

In conversation with Stanly Johny, International Affairs Editor, The Hindu, on the topic ‘India’s Global Future: Leadership, Diplomacy and Sustainability in Times of Conflict’, former Ambassador Tirumurti said: “Right now, you have a huge problem between Saudi Arabia and the UAE. But, India has excellent relations with both. So, how are you going to manage those contradictions? That comes only if you have a well-thought-out regional policy, which will also include Iran.”

Asked to elaborate on tackling multiple crises arising out of the West Asia region, especially energy crises and so on, former Ambassador Tirumurti said: “There are two important aspects to it: strategic autonomy and pro-activeness. Strategic autonomy is enlarging your space and taking independent decisions for your country based on your national interest. Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru exercised strategic autonomy by stating, ‘I don’t want to join either of the two’. And countries actually came and joined India in non-alignment (movement). We naturally became the leader of the Global South. In the present context, we have multi-alignment. We have two superpowers who actually engage very closely with each other but they are also adversaries. In multi-alignment, the point is it helps us get strategic autonomy, but it doesn’t help us get leadership in geopolitics.”

Former Ambassador Tirumurti added that leadership is important because geopolitics affects economy, business, technology, and everything else.

Speaking about the perils of not playing a proactive role, former ambassador Tirumurti said, “If you do not take a proactive role (in conflicts), other countries like Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Pakistan will fill this space. So, you are actually ceding space to other countries. We should continue to stick to our policy of strategic autonomy but be proactive.”

Explaining how Pakistan found itself at the centre of the conflict between the United States, Israel, and Pakistan, former ambassador Tirumurti said, “A regional security architecture for that region (West Asia) should include Iran. Just as Russia should be included in Europe’s security architecture. The blocking of Hormuz (Strait of Hormuz) is going to change their thinking about security. In future, they will look at land connectivity, pipelines, and how to avoid it (blockades). De-risking supply chains will be a major aspect going forward,” he said.

Further speaking about Pakistan, he said, “Operation Sindoor gave an opportunity to Pakistan to get back into the so-called international discourse. We may say that they ingratiate themselves with the United States but it gave them an opening. Three countries will benefit from the war: Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Pakistan. These three countries along with Egypt. We have mentally discounted Pakistan because of their internal political problems and economic problems. They went and signed a defence deal with Saudi Arabia... and their proximity with China, especially the supporting role they played in Operation Sindoor to Pakistan. When the Iran war broke out, the only country which could step in was Pakistan... it was in a geopolitical sweetspot.”

Explaining how the U.S. couldn’t meet its objectives in the Iran conflict, he said, “By having a regime change, they wanted to stop this ideology (radical ideology) and stop the proxies from getting any help from Iran. All of us know none of this has happened. Not only are Iran’s Revolutionary Guards there, they also have become stronger. Iran’s proxies may have been a bit diminished, but they are there. The Strait of Hormuz that was open before is now blocked and the missiles that they wanted to take out may have depleted, but it can be replenished. The most important thing that has happened due to the Iran war is that it has exposed the security umbrella of the United States and has shown the Gulf States are extremely vulnerable. When it comes to nuclear, all the stockpiles remain with Iran.”