After evacuation from Iran, Indians express relief; 827 brought back so far

The Indian government's Operation Sindhu has successfully evacuated 827 Indian nationals from conflict-hit Iran, with the latest flight landing in New Delhi on Saturday.

The evacuees, including students and pilgrims, shared their experiences of the tense situation in Iran and praised the efforts of the Indian embassy and government.

The evacuation flight from Mashhad, carried 310 Indian nationals, who were safely brought back to the country under Operation Sindhu.

Sharing the images of the evacuation, Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal wrote on X, "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."

Nadeem Asgar, an evacuee, told ANI, "I am thankful to my nation for keeping us safe there and bringing us back safely. As soon as the situation went south, we were evacuated by the embassy. I am very thankful to the Indian government."

Farzana Abdi echoed similar sentiments, "We are coming back from Iran. There was a lot of fighting and missiles there. The Indian embassy helped us a lot and brought us here. We are very happy to be back in India. India is the best."

Riyazul Hasan described the dire situation in Iran, "The situation is not good there. We saw from our hotel window that the missiles were coming, which were being intercepted mid-air. We are relieved to be back here. We came through the embassy. We thank PM Modi."

Fatima expressed her gratitude to the Prime Minister, "I am very grateful to PM Modi. Now I feel at peace after coming back to my country. Being back in your homeland is a matter of great joy."

Almas Rizvi praised the Indian embassy's support, "We were given accommodation in a good hotel and given lunch, dinner, everything, on time. It feels good to be back in our country. The Indian embassy helped us a lot. The Indian government took good care of us and didn't even let us feel we were living in a war-like situation."

Daniya shared her relief, "I am delighted. We were terrified. The situation was very dire in Tehran. I thank the Indian embassy and Prime Minister Narendra Modi from the bottom of my heart because of which we could reach here safely." 

Operation Sindhu: Evacuation flight with over 100 Indian students lands in Delhi

Earlier in the day, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi said, a centrifuge manufacturing workshop in the central Iranian city has been struck, making it the third nuclear-related facility targeted in Israeli attacks since June 13, Al Jazeera reported.

"We know this facility well. There was no nuclear material at this site and therefore the attack on it will have no radiological consequences," Grossi said in a statement posted by the IAEA.

On Friday, Grossi said the nuclear watchdog does not have information showing Iran is actively trying to build nuclear weapons.

The Israeli military has already said that it's got many targets that it still has to hit, and the campaign has clearly broadened beyond the military, beyond top scientific advisers, and beyond missile launchers.

So there's nothing really stopping Israel from carrying on until it's achieved its stated objectives. Well, that is, to stop Iran enriching uranium to produce a nuclear weapon, as per Al Jazeera.

The Israeli military has warned Israelis that they should be prepared for a long campaign.

According to Al Jazeera, from Iran, overnight we had about 40 drones fired, according to the Israeli military, one of those getting through the air defences. In all, there have been about 450 missiles fired since the start of this fighting. According to the Israelis, 450 ballistic missiles and 400-plus drones.