The Indian Embassy in Iran announced that it will be gradually winding down its evacuation exercise for Indian nationals, initiated after the escalated conflict in the region following Israel’s military operations on the Islamic Republic, as a ceasefire deal was made between the two countries on Tuesday.
In a post on X, the Embassy detailed the closure of the contact desk set up for registering new names of Indian nationals for evacuation, while assuring continued monitoring of the security situation.
“Announcement from Embassy of India, Tehran: Since there has been an announcement of ceasefire, the Embassy is gradually winding up the evacuation exercise initiated during the military conflict in Iran. Hence the Embassy has closed the contact desk that was opened to register new names for evacuation. At the same time, Govt. of India is keeping a careful eye on the evolving situation & will reassess its strategy in case there is again a threat to the security of Indian nationals in Iran,” the Embassy stated.
The Embassy advised Indian nationals currently in other parts of Iran, who were planning to travel to Iran’s Mashhad for evacuation, to remain in their current locations and continue monitoring news updates and any revised advice from the Embassy.
“Indians who are in other parts of Iran, but were planning to travel to Mashhad for evacuation, are advised to remain where they are, and continue to monitor the news, as well as any updated advice issued by the embassy,” the post read.
For those who had already arrived in Mashhad in recent days and are staying in hotels arranged by the Embassy, it issued a directive to shift to the Sadr hotel in Iran by Wednesday (local time). “Those Indians who had already travelled to Mashhad in the last few days, and are staying in one of the hotels arranged by the Embassy, are requested to shift to Sadr hotel today itself, because the Embassy will be releasing the rooms in other hotels,” the Embassy specified.
The Embassy stated that it would retain rooms at the Sadr hotel for two more nights, until checkout time on June 26, to allow citizens time to assess the normalisation of the security situation.
“The embassy will retain the rooms in Sadr hotel for 2 more nights (until checkout time on 26 June). This will also allow citizens time to assure themselves that the security situation in Iran is indeed returning to normal,” the post added.
This came after US President Trump, on early Tuesday, announced a ceasefire agreement between the two conflict-gripped nations following Iran’s attack on US military bases in Qatar and Iraq in response to the US strikes on its nuclear facilities.
However, moments after the announcement, the Israeli Air Force (IAF) carried out a limited strike on an Iranian radar installation north of Tehran, following which Iran launched two ballistic missiles at Israel, as reported by The Times of Israel.
Trump expressed his strong disapproval of Israel and Iran “violating the ceasefire”, he announced, and said that the two countries have been fighting “so long and so hard that they don’t know what the f*** they’re doing.”
Shortly after, the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office in a statement noted that after a conversation between Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel has “refrained” from further attacks on Iran.
This came following a series of escalating military actions in the region when Israel initially conducted coordinated strikes against Iranian nuclear and military sites on June 13.
Following this, Iran retaliated with strikes on Israeli military infrastructure, and the US joined the conflict with precision strikes on Iran’s three key nuclear facilities – Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan.
Meanwhile, another special flight carrying 282 Indian nationals stranded in conflict-hit Iran landed safely in New Delhi on Wednesday, taking the total number of people evacuated under Operation Sindhu to 2,858. (ANI)
