Evacuated over 4,400 Indian nationals from Iran, Israel in 19 special flights so far: MEA

New Delhi: India has evacuated more than 4,400 Indian nationals from Iran and Israel so far in 19 special flights under Operation Sindhu, launched on June 18 to bring home its citizens amid the ongoing conflict between the two countries, according to the Ministry of External Affairs.

A fresh batch of 173 Indians evacuated from Iran reached Delhi late Thursday night in a flight from Armenian capital Yerevan, the MEA said in a post on X.

At his weekly media briefing a day before, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal, in response to queries on Operation Sindhu, said New Delhi was assessing the situation on the ground and a decision on the future course of action would be taken based on it.

Over 3,400 Indian nationals have been evacuated so far in 14 flights from Iran since the start of Operation Sindhu, according to data shared by him during the briefing.

Jaiswal later shared updated evacuee figures in the post on X after the arrival of the flight from Yeravan.

"A special evacuation flight from Yerevan, Armenia landed in New Delhi at 22:30 hrs on 26th June, bringing home 173 Indian nationals from Iran," he wrote.

"As part of #OperationSindhu, a total of 4,415 Indian nationals (3,597 from Iran and 818 from Israel) have been evacuated so far using 19 special evacuation flights, including three IAF aircraft. Fourteen OCI card-holders, nine Nepali nationals, four Sri Lankan nationals, and one Iranian spouse of an Indian national were also evacuated from Iran," he added.

On June 24, India said while it remained "deeply concerned about the prospects for overall and sustained regional security and stability", it 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 had said "India stands ready to play its part" to resolve the situation and insisted on "dialogue and diplomacy" as the way forward.

Jaiswal on Thursday was asked if India would continue Operation Sindhu after the Iran-Israel ceasefire, and about the total number of Indian nationals evacuated from the two countries so far.

"We launched Operation Sindhu on June 18. We have around 10,000 people. Indian community members in Iran. And, around 40,000 people in Israel who are Indian nationals," he had said.

One Iranian woman, who is the wife of an Indian national has also been evacuated, he added.

The MEA spokesperson had said, "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 (June 26) from the Iranian city of Mashhad, Jaiswal had posted on X earlier.

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, i.e., Jordan and Egypt, and from both these countries they were put on special flights, and they came back home," he told reporters.

The MEA spokesperson said, "We are thankful to the governments 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 June 22.

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 June 18.

Iran lifted airspace restrictions on June 20 to facilitate three chartered flights from Mashhad.

The first flight landed in New Delhi late on June 20 with 290 Indians, and the second one landed in the national capital on June 21 afternoon with 310 Indians.

Another flight arrived from the Armenian capital city of Yerevan on June 19 and special evacuation flight from Ashgabat landed in New Delhi early on June 21.

India on June 23 had evacuated 290 Indian nationals and a Sri Lankan citizen from Iran following the US bombing of three Iranian nuclear sites.