WORLD
Amid the ongoing conflict between Iran and Israel, thousands of Indians nationals, mostly students were stranded in Iran. Under operation Sindhu launched by Indian government, the first of three chartered evacuation flights carrying Indian students from Iran landed safely in Delhi on Friday night.
Updated : Jun 21, 2025, 01:12 PM IST
 "Flight carrying 290 Indian nationals lands In Delhi")
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Amid the ongoing conflict between Iran and Israel, thousands of Indians nationals, mostly students were stranded in Iran. Under operation Sindhu launched by Indian government, the first of three chartered evacuation flights carrying Indian students from Iran landed safely in Delhi on Friday night.
This comes amid Iran's decision to ease airspace restrictions. 290 Indian nationals landed safely at around 11:40 pm in Delhi. The evacuation flights were being operated by Iranian airline Mahan and were arranged by New Delhi.
The Jammu and Kashmir Students Association released a statement saying, “Mahan Air evacuation flight from Mashhad, Iran, carrying 290 students, the majority of whom are from Kashmir, has landed safely in New Delhi just now. Heartfelt thanks to the Government of India, the Ministry of External Affairs, and all concerned authorities for their timely intervention and support. A great relief for families who had been anxiously awaiting their return.”
Randhir Jaiswal, Official Spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs of India, on X, stated, "Operation Sindhu flight brings citizens home. India evacuated 290 Indian nationals from Iran, including students and religious pilgrims by a charter flight. The flight arrived in New Delhi at 2330 hrs on 20 June and was received by Secretary (CPV& OIA) Arun Chatterjee. Government of India is grateful to the Government of Iran for the facilitation of the evacuation process."
Evacuation efforts underway
Indian government has launched Operation Sindhu on June 18, to evacuate Indian nationals stranded in Iran. The Indian Embassy in Tehran, is coordinating with the Iranian government to relocate the students from Tehran to safer cities such as Qom and Mashhad. Around 1000 Indians are being rescued from hese safer areas. In total three Iranian-operated charter flights will evacuate these Indians.
This was the first flight out of the three. Two more evacuation flights are set to land in Delhi on Saturday. One flight will land in the morning from Ashgabat, Turkmenistan. Third flight will land from Mashhad in the evening. As per reports, Iran may organize additional flights if necessary. None of the evacuation flights are flying over Pakistani airspace.
Mohammad Javad Hosseini, deputy chief of mission at the Iranian Embassy in Delhi, said, “We consider Indians as our own people. Iran’s airspace is closed, but because of this issue, we are making arrangements to open it for the safe passage of Indian nationals.”
On Thursday, June 19, 110 Indian nationals who were moved to Armenia from Tehran landed in Delhi on a flight from Yerevan.
