New Delhi, 21 June

More than 500 Indian nationals have returned home from Iran under Operation Sindhu so far, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said on Saturday.

The MEA shared the update about the status of the evacuation operation in a post on X.

More Indian nationals, including students, arrived in Delhi late Friday night and in the early hours of Saturday after being evacuated from Iran as its military confrontation with Israel intensified.

India announced the launch of Operation Sindhu to evacuate its nationals from Iran on Wednesday.

"#OperationSindhu flight brings citizens home. India 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," MEA Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal wrote on X.

"Government of India is grateful to the Government of Iran for the facilitation of the evacuation process," he said.

In another post, he shared details about an evacuation flight that arrived from Turkmenistan.

"#OperationSindhu continues. A special evacuation flight from Ashgabat, Turkmenistan landed in New Delhi at 03.00 hrs on 21st June, bringing Indians from Iran home. With this, so far 517 Indian nationals from Iran have returned home under Operation Sindhu," he said.

The first batch of 110 Indian nationals, evacuated from conflict-hit Iran under Operation Sindhu, arrived in India on Thursday, with many evacuees sharing firsthand accounts of the frightening situation they witnessed before being moved to safer locations.

Minister of State for External Affairs Kirti Vardhan Singh welcomed them on their arrival at Delhi airport after their arduous journey.