India continued to remove its citizens from Iran on Tuesday and so far more than 2,200 Indians have been brought back from the Persian Gulf country. Foreign Ministry spokesman Randhir Jaiswal said that 292 Indian citizens were expelled from Iran to a special aircraft from Mashhad at 3:30 am.
Sharing information about India’s evacuation mission ‘Operation Sindhu’ started amid enmity in Iran and Israel, he said, “2,295 Indian citizens have been brought home from Iran so far”. In addition, a C-17 military transport aircraft of the Indian Air Force took out 165 Indians living in Israel.
He was welcomed by Union Minister L. Murugan at the airport. The aircraft then brought Indians back from Amman. Indians were taken to Jordan via land border crossing. On Monday night, 290 Indian citizens and a Sri Lankan citizen were evacuated from the Iranian city of Mashhad from a special flight. India started ‘Operation Sindhu’ last week to bring back Indians from the two countries in view of the increasing enmity between Iran and Israel.
Israel and Iran have fired hundreds of missiles and drones at each other’s cities and military and strategic centers in more than a week. The tension increased significantly after the US bombing three major nuclear sites in Iran on Sunday morning. India has evacuated its citizens from the Iranian city of Mashhad, Armenia’s capital Jerevan and Turkmenistan’s capital Ashgabat from Wednesday.
Iran on Friday lifted airspace ban on the facility of three chartered flights from Mashhad. The first flight landed in New Delhi with 290 Indians late Friday night, and the second Saturday afternoon landed in the national capital with 310 Indians. On Thursday, another flight came from Jerevan. A special withdrawal aircraft from Ashgabat reached New Delhi on Saturday morning.
