New Delhi [India], June 18 (ANI): The Indian government has launched Operation Sindhu to evacuate Indian nationals from Iran in view of the deteriorating situation as a result of the ongoing conflict between Iran and Israel. The Indian government has evacuated 110 Indian students so far from Iran through Armenia, who will reach India in the early hours of June 19.

In a post on X, MEA Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal wrote, “India launched Operation Sindhu to evacuate Indian nationals from Iran. India evacuated 110 students from northern Iran who crossed into Armenia under the supervision of our Missions in Iran and Armenia on 17th June. They departed from Yerevan on a special flight and will arrive in New Delhi in the early hours of 19th June 2025. India accords the highest priority to the safety and security of her nationals abroad.”

A press release from the Ministry of External Affairs reads, “As a first step, the Indian Embassy has evacuated 110 Indian students from northern Iran, assisting them in safely crossing over into Armenia on 17th June 2025. The students have travelled by road to the Armenian capital, Yerevan, under the supervision of our Missions in Iran and Armenia.

These students departed Yerevan on a special flight at 1455 hrs on 18th June 2025, and will arrive in New Delhi in the early hours of 19th June 2025, as part of the initial stages of Operation Sindhu.” The Indian government also expressed gratitude to the Iranian and Armenian government for ensuring smooth facilitation of the evacuation process. The release stated, “The Government of India is grateful to the Governments of Iran and Armenia for the smooth facilitation of the evacuation process.”

“India accords highest priority to the safety and security of Indian nationals abroad. As part of the ongoing operation, the Indian Embassy in Iran has been assisting large numbers of Indian nationals in moving from areas seeing increased hostilities to relatively safer areas within the country and to subsequently evacuate them using the available and feasible options,” the release added.

The MEA further suggested the Indian nationals in Iran to stay in touch with the Indian Embassy in Tehran through its emergency helpline. “Indian nationals in Iran are advised to stay in touch with the Indian Embassy in Tehran through its emergency helpline, and with the 24×7 Control Room established by the Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi,” the release said. (ANI)

“We are thankful to MEA,” say evacuated Indian students from Iran

Indian students on Wednesday thanked the Ministry External Affairs, Indian Embassy in Iran and the Indian government for helping with their evacuation.In a video shared by the Jammu and Kashmir Students Association, a group of girls from the Urmia University of Medical Sciences were seen thanking the MEA for its efforts.“Greetings! Brief highlights from the students of Urmia University of Medical Sciences, Urmia. We are currently at the Yerevan International Airport, Armenia. We are being evacuated back to India. We are thankful to the MEA and Government of India for evacuating us as soon as possible,” the girls were seen saying in unison.Speaking on the same issue with ANI earlier in the day, Iranian Deputy Chief of Mission in India, Mohammad Javad Hosseini, said that although their airspace was closed due to security reasons, they tried to relocate Indian students with safety.

“The airspace is closed due to security issues. We are providing safety. Some of the students were relocated from Tehran to another city, which is safe, because Tehran is under military aggression. We didn’t talk about mediation. We asked the international community, including India, to stop these aggressions because these aggressions are not beneficial for anybody,” he said.He further said that Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs cooperated with the Indian embassy in Tehran for the Indian students to be evacuated safely.”Actually, that our Minister of Foreign Affairs in Tehran with Indian embassy in Tehran, they had a very good cooperation.

As far as we know that the Iranians have provided the ground, the safest ground for the Indian students to be evacuated safely through some borders of another a third country, that they can come back to India,” he said.Hosseini further added that Israeli operations also targeted these people on the suspicion of involvement with nuclear weapons.”It is necessary to mention that these kind of actions or military operations of Israeli which are targeting the hospitals, kindergartens and the others also it affected the Indian students.

They were also targeted by the Israelis just on the excuse that there is some suspicious activity regarding nuclear issues. You know that even they don’t care about the lives of the people. But for us, it is important, the life of our people who are living inside the Iranian border. We do our best to protect the lives of the people,” he said.Hosseini said that Iran further expects the international countries to pressurise Israel by condemning its actions.”

But on the other hand, it is also expected that those countries who actually play a big role in the international community, put pressure on Israelis by condemning these kinds of actions and to stop him from continuing such this kind of vicious actions against civilians, especially ladies and babies in the country,” he said. (ANI)

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