US Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrived in India on Saturday for a four-day, four-city visit aimed at repairing strained bilateral ties and strengthening cooperation on energy, trade, and the Quad alliance — all against the backdrop of a global energy crisis triggered by the ongoing US-Iran war.

Rubio began his trip in Kolkata, the capital of the eastern state of West Bengal and one of India's largest cities, where he visited the headquarters of the Missionaries of Charity, the organisation founded by Mother Teresa, and prayed at her tomb. He then flew to New Delhi for a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, with further stops in Agra and Jaipur planned before he returns to the capital on Tuesday for a meeting of Quad foreign ministers. The Quad is a strategic grouping of Australia, India, Japan and the United States, widely seen as a counterweight to China's growing influence in the Indo-Pacific region. The foreign ministers' meeting on 26 May is expected to lay the groundwork for a leaders' summit in New Delhi later this year, though it remains unconfirmed whether President Donald Trump will attend.

Energy is expected to dominate the agenda. India, whose population of more than 1.4 billion depends heavily on imported fuel, is among the worst-affected countries since Israel and the US attacked Iran in February, prompting Tehran to choke off the Strait of Hormuz — the narrow waterway through which a large share of the world's oil passes. Rubio has indicated Washington is eager to fill the gap: