Indian Students, Pilgrims Return Under Op Sindhu As Iran Opens Airspace

Amidst its conflict with Israel, Iran opened its airspace for India's "Operation Sindhu," enabling the evacuation of Indian students stranded after the Israeli attack.

The flight, carrying 290 Indian nationals including students and pilgrims arrived in Delhi late Friday night.

Source : X/@MEAIndia

Another batch of 290 Indian nationals including students, mostly from Jammu and Kashmir, and religious pilgrims arrived in Delhi late Friday night after Iran opened its airspace restrictions for India's Operation Sindhu. 

In a special gesture, the West Asian country which is currently in a war with Israel, opened its airspace for three flights to evacuate about 1,000 Indians. This was the first of the three flights, reported NDTV. 

#OperationSindhu flight brings citizens home.

🇮🇳 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… pic.twitter.com/ZORq0aeza5

— Randhir Jaiswal (@MEAIndia) June 20, 2025

The Indian nationals were moved to Mashhad from Tehran after the Israeli attack. The evacuation flights were arranged by New Delhi and operated by Iranian airline Mahan. 

A special evacuation flight from Ashgabat, Turkmenistan also landed in Delhi in the early hours of Saturday, said Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal. 

With the latest arrivals, 517 Indian nationals from Iran have returned home under Operation Sindhu, he said. Government of India is grateful to the Government of Iran for the facilitation of the evacuation process, he added. 

'Everything Was Going Fine, But...'

Zaffar Abbas Naqvi, an Indian national evacuated from Iran recounted his experience and narrated how his family stayed indoors initially after hearing about the attack on Iran. 

He said that his family later moved to Mashhad, which also came under attack, prompting them to contact the Indian government. 

"Everything was going fine, but one day we heard that Iran had been attacked. We stayed indoors for some time. We then moved to Mashhad," he told ANI. 

"Soon Mashhad came under attack. We then contacted the Indian government," he added. 
Naqvi thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath "who made all the arrangements for us."