Another flight from Iran carrying 311 Indians lands in Delhi; over 1,400 evacuated so far

New Delhi, June 22: India on Sunday evacuated more than 300 Indian nationals from Iran amid the escalating tensions between the Persian Gulf nation and Israel following the US bombing of three Iranian nuclear sites.

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said 311 Indians landed in Delhi on a special flight from the Iranian city of Mashhad.

With the fresh batch of evacuees, the total number of those brought back from Iran now stands at 1,428.

Three-hundred eleven Indian nationals arrived in New Delhi on a special flight from Mashhad at 1630 hours on June 22, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said.

He said a total of 1,428 Indian nationals have been evacuated from Iran so far.

India launched Operation Sindhu last week to bring back Indians from Iran and Israel in view of increasing hostilities between the two nations.

Israel and Iran have fired hundreds of missiles and drones at each other's cities and military and strategic facilities since the hostilities began over a week back.

The tensions escalated significantly following the US bombing of three major Iranian nuclear sites on Sunday morning.

India has evacuated its nationals on chartered flights operated from the Iranian city of Mashhad, the Armenian capital of Yerevan and the Turkmenistan capital of Ashgabat since Wednesday.

Iran lifted airspace restrictions on Friday to facilitate three chartered flights from Mashhad.

The first flight landed in New Delhi late on Friday with 290 Indians, and the second one landed in the national capital on Saturday afternoon with 310 Indians.

Another flight arrived from the Armenian capital city of Yerevan on Thursday. A special evacuation flight from Ashgabat landed in New Delhi early on Saturday morning.