India Mulls Evacuation Of Its 10,000 Students Stranded In Iran, Tehran Says Foreign Nationals Can Use Land Borders

New Delhi: Tehran on Monday responded to New Delhi’s request to provide safe passage for the evacuation of at least 10,000 students stranded in Iran, as Israel continued bombing major cities, reported the India Today TV.

Iran has mentioned that since it has shut its airspace down, students can use its land borders to cross into Azarbaijaan, Turkmenistan and Afghanistan.

India is currently mulling an evacuation operation from Iran for its nationals. As tensions between Iran and Israel escalate, India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has stepped up efforts to ensure the safety of Indian nationals in the war-torn countries. More than 1,500 students, mostly from Jammu and Kashmir, are stranded in Iran, reported the PTI.

MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal, in a statement issued on Monday, said the Indian Embassy in Tehran was “closely monitoring the security situation” and “actively engaging with Indian students to ensure their safety.”
Meanwhile, reports suggest India is mulling evacuation of its nationals from Iran via the Armenia route. Indian Foreign Minister S Jaishankar reportedly spoke to Armenian FM Ararat Mirzoyan in this regard.

Students have been relocated to safer areas within Iran with the Embassy’s assistance, reports claimed. Hundreds of Indian students in Iran are urging the government to evacuate them immediately.

“I woke up at 2:30 am on Friday to loud explosions and rushed to the basement. We haven’t slept since,” said Imtisal Mohidin, an Indian student at Shahid Beheshti University in Tehran, said as quoted by NDTV World.

With blasts reported just a few kilometres from student hostels and apartments, fear is mounting.

India’s past evacuation of its people from war-hit Ukraine

In the past as well, India had taken the help of other countries to evacuate its citizens, especially students, during Ukraine-Russia conflict through Operation Ganga. It was an evacuation mission carried out by the Indian government to rescue its citizens stranded in neighboring countries of Ukraine during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The citizens were transported from Romania, Hungary, Poland, Moldova, and Slovakia to India with assistance from these countries. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had a phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy back then during which the safety of students was brought up, following which the evacuation took place.