As Iran Makes Special Arrangements, Indian Evacuees Arrive In Delhi Aboard Charter Flights

New Delhi: Iran is aiding the evacuation of a number of Indian nationals to Delhi via charter flights, making special arrangements for the exercise even as its airspace is otherwise closed due to its ongoing conflict with Israel, the country's deputy chief of mission in India has said.

At least three special charter flights will evacuate Indian citizens from Iran to Delhi, said Mohammad Javad Hosseini on Friday (June 20).

The Indian external affairs ministry said early on Saturday that one charter flight carrying 290 Indian nationals, including students and religious pilgrims, arrived in Delhi from Mashhad in northeastern Iran at 11:30 pm the previous night.

Official sources said a second flight will reach Delhi at around 3 am from Ashgabat in Turkmenistan, which is close to the country's border with Iran and around 280 kilometres away from Mashhad.

Hosseini had said that at least three charter flights – including one on Friday night and two on Saturday – would fly from Mashhad to Delhi.

A group of around a thousand Indian nationals awaited evacuation via charter flight in Mashhad, Hosseini said. These Indians had been relocated from Tehran to the city of Qom about 150 kilometres south of the Iranian capital before being taken to Mashhad, he said.

When asked if Iran's airspace was not closed due to the conflict, he said: “Yeah, it is closed, but we are actually–because of this issue, we are making arrangements [such] that [it is opened] for the safe passage” of evacuees.

Indian evacuees from Iran prepare to board a flight from the Ashgabat airport. Photo by arrangement.

Hosseini was also asked about the number of Indian students who suffered injuries due to Israeli strikes. He said up to two or three students in Tehran were hurt, in line with media reports on the matter.

The conflict between the two Middle Eastern powers began last Friday following Israel's strikes on Iran, which it based on its claim that Tehran was on the cusp of obtaining nuclear weapons. Iran has maintained that its nuclear program is meant solely for civilian benefit.

As the two sides have continued to launch missiles at each other – with the death toll in Israel pegged at least 24 and that in Iran being well over 200 – India has moved to evacuate its nationals from either country under ‘Operation Sindhu’, of which the evacuations from Iran on Friday and Saturday are also part of.

It had also evacuated 110 Indian students from Tehran to Delhi via Qom and Yerevan, Armenia earlier this week.

India's embassy in Tel Aviv will handle the evacuation of citizens out of Israel, first overland and then by air, the external affairs ministry announced on Thursday.

‘We expect more from India’

When the conflict broke out, the ministry had urged both sides to avoid escalation and said it ‘stood ready to extend all possible support’.

Hosseini, when asked how Tehran views India's stance, said it believes that “every country, including India, [must] condemn these aggressions. Not because of Iran or because of this conflict, [but] because it will open the way for other countries who have in their mind to attack [their] neighbour[s] on some baseless allegations”.

Is Tehran disappointed with India? It is “not a matter of disappointment; we understand, but our expectation is more”, the diplomat said.

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