Operation Sindhu: 827 Indian nationals brought back from Iran so far, says MEA

New Delhi: More than 800 Indian nationals have so far returned home from Iran under Operation Sindhu, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said on Saturday.

The MEA shared the update on the status of the evacuation operation in a series of posts on X.

More Indian nationals, including students, arrived in Delhi late on Friday evening and in the early hours of Saturday after being evacuated from Iran as its military confrontation with Israel intensified.

India announced the launch of Operation Sindhu on Wednesday to evacuate its nationals from Iran.

"#OperationSindhu 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," MEA Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said on X.

"Government of India is grateful to the Government of Iran for the facilitation of the evacuation process," he added.

In another post, Jaiswal shared the details of an evacuation flight that arrived from Turkmenistan.

"#OperationSindhu continues. A special evacuation flight from Ashgabat, Turkmenistan landed in New Delhi at 0300 hrs on 21st June, bringing Indians from Iran home. With this, so far 517 Indian nationals from Iran have returned home under Operation Sindhu," he said.

The first batch of 110 Indian nationals evacuated from Iran arrived in India on Thursday, with many evacuees sharing first-hand accounts of the frightening situation they witnessed before being moved to safer locations.

Minister of State for External Affairs Kirti Vardhan Singh welcomed them on their arrival at the Delhi airport after their arduous journey.

In another post in the evening, Jaiswal informed about the arrival of a separate evacuation flight.

"#OperationSindhu Another evacuation flight from Mashhad landed in New Delhi at 1630 hrs on 21 June with 310 Indian nationals from Iran. With this, a total of 827 Indians have been evacuated," he said.

Also, the Indian embassy in Iran, in a post on X, said, "On request of the Governments of Nepal and Sri Lanka, the Indian Embassy's evacuation efforts in Iran will also cover citizens of Nepal and Sri Lanka."