NEW DELHI, 26 Jun: India has evacuated over 3,400 Indian nationals from Iran so far in 14 flights under Operation Sindhu launched on 18 June to bring home its citizens amid the ongoing Iran-Israel conflict, according to data shared by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Thursday.
At his weekly media briefing, MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal, in response to queries on Operation Sindhu, also said that New Delhi is “assessing the situation on ground” and depending on that a decision would be taken whether to “continue with it or not.”
On 24 June, while India remained “deeply concerned about the prospects for overall and sustained regional security and stability,” she welcomed reports of a ceasefire between Iran and Israel.
Hours after US President Donald Trump’s claims of an Iran-Israel ceasefire, the MEA in a statement said:”India stands ready to play its part” to resolve the situation and insisted on “dialogue and diplomacy” as the way forward.
Jaiswal was asked if India would continue Operation Sindhu after the Iran-Israel ceasefire, and about the total number of India nationals evacuated from the two countries so far.
“We launched Operation Sindhu on 18 June. We have around 10,000 people. Indian community members in Iran. And around 40,000 people in Israel who are Indian nationals,” he said.
He went on to tell reporters, “From Iran, we have so far evacuated 3,426 Indian nationals, 11 OCI (overseas citizens of India) cardholders, nine Nepalese nationals, and some Sri Lankan nationals as well.”
One Iranian woman, who is the wife of an Indian national, has also been evacuated, he added.
The MEA spokesperson added, “In all, we mounted 14 flights to bring back Indian nationals from Iran. These flights flew from Mashhad, as also from Yeravan in Armenia, and Ashgabat in Turkmenistan. I understand that one more flight is on its way from Armenia, and it will land later this evening. With that we would have completed all those people who wish to be evacuated from Iran.”
A special flight carrying 272 Indian and three Nepalese nationals from Iran arrived in Delhi a little past midnight (26 June) from the Iranian city of Mashhad, Jaiswal posted on X earlier in the day.
India on Wednesday evacuated 296 Indian citizens and four Nepalese nationals from Iran.
“As far as Israel is concerned, we have so far evacuated 818 Indian nationals in four flights. As you are aware the airspace in Israel was closed, so we had to take our people to bordering countries, ie, Jordan and Egypt, and from both these countries they were put on special flight, and they came back home,” he said.
The MEA spokesperson said, “We are thankful to the government of Egypt and Jordan for their support.”
Indian embassies in Israel, Jordan and Egypt “collaborated very closely” with the MEA headquarters in Delhi in mounting the evacuation operation.
“But, we would also like to thank Government of Iran, as you would know that we made our requests, they opened their airspace for us to evacuate, our nationals. We are grateful to the government of Iran for this special gesture. We are also thankful to the governments of Turkmenistan and Armenia for helping us evacuate our people,” he said.
India on Tuesday evacuated more than 1,100 citizens from Iran and Israel.
It brought back 594 Indians from Israel, using C-17 heavy-lift aircraft of the Indian Air Force to fly out more than 400 people after they were moved out of Israel to Jordan and Egypt by land transit points.
Also, 161 Indians were brought back in a chartered flight from Amman after they had moved to the Jordanian capital from Israel by road.
A total of 573 Indians, three Sri Lankan and two Nepalese nationals were evacuated from Iran in two chartered flights on Tuesday, according to details shared by the MEA.
Several other flights have brought Indian nationals back home after being evacuated from Iran in the past several days.
Israel and Iran fired hundreds of missiles and drones at each other’s cities and military and strategic facilities since the hostilities began more than a week ago.
The tensions escalated significantly following the US bombing of three major Iranian nuclear sites on the morning of 22 June.
India has evacuated its nationals on chartered flights operated from the Iranian city of Mashhad, the Armenian capital of Yerevan and the Turkmenistan capital of Ashgabat since 18 June.
Iran lifted airspace restrictions on 20 June to facilitate three chartered flights from Mashhad.
The first flight landed in New Delhi late on 20 June with 290 Indians, and the second one landed in the national capital on 21 June afternoon with 310 Indians.
Another flight arrived from the Armenian capital city of Yerevan on 19 June and special evacuation flight from Ashgabat landed in New Delhi early on 21 June.
India on 23 June had evacuated 290 Indian nationals and a Sri Lankan citizen from Iran following the US bombing of three Iranian nuclear sites. (PTI)