India has evacuated more than 4,400 Indian nationals from Iran and Israel so far in 19 special flights under Operation Sindhu launched on June 18 to bring home its citizens amid the ongoing conflict between the two countries, according to the Ministry of External Affairs.
A fresh batch of 173 Indians evacuated from Iran reached Delhi late Thursday night in a flight from Armenian capital Yerevan, the MEA said in a post on X.
At his weekly media briefing a day before, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal, in response to queries on Operation Sindhu, said New Delhi was assessing the situation on the ground and a decision on the future course of action would be taken based on it.
Over 3,400 Indian nationals have been evacuated so far in 14 flights from Iran since the start of Operation Sindhu, according to data shared by him during the briefing.
Jaiswal later shared updated evacuee figures in the post on X after the arrival of the flight from Yeravan.
"A special evacuation flight from Yerevan, Armenia landed in New Delhi at 22:30 hrs on 26th June, bringing home 173 Indian nationals from Iran," he wrote.
"As part of #OperationSindhu, a total of 4415 Indian nationals have been evacuated so far using 19 special evacuation flights including 3 IAF aircraft. 14 OCI card-holders, 9 Nepali nationals, 4 Sri Lankan nationals and 1 Iranian spouse of an Indian national were also evacuated from Iran," he added.
On June 24, India said while it remained "deeply concerned about the prospects for overall and sustained regional security and stability", it welcomed reports of a ceasefire between Iran and Israel.
Hours after US President Donald Trump's claims of an Iran-Israel ceasefire, the MEA in a statement had said "India stands ready to play its part" to resolve the situation and insisted on "dialogue and diplomacy" as the way forward.
Jaiswal on Thursday was asked if India would continue Operation Sindhu after the Iran-Israel ceasefire, and about the total number of India nationals evacuated from the two countries so far.
"We launched Operation Sindhu on June 18. We have around 10,000 people. Indian community members in Iran. And, around 40,000 people in Israel who are Indian nationals," he had said.
One Iranian woman, who is the wife of an Indian national has also been evacuated, he added.
The MEA spokesperson had said, "In all, we mounted, 14 flights to bring back Indian nationals from Iran. These flights flew from Mashhad, as also from Yeravan in Armenia, and Ashgabat in Turkmenistan. I understand that one more flight is on its way from Armenia, and it will land later this evening. With that we would have completed.. all those people who wish to be evacuated from Iran."