Operation Sindhu: 600 Indian Students Including 500 From Kashmir Safely Reach Mashhad, Likely To Arrive Delhi On Friday

New Delhi: Around 600 Indian students, including 500 from Kashmir, have safely reached Mashhad from Qom as part of India’s ongoing evacuation mission – ‘Operation Sindhu’ in Iran.

“Around 600 Indian students, including 500 from Kashmir, have safely reached Mashhad from Qom. This is the second group of students who were earlier relocated to Qom, where they stayed for three days. Their evacuation process is currently underway”, sources confirmed Republic TV on Thursday.

This marks the second group of students who had been relocated to Qom earlier, where they were sheltered for three days before being moved further amid escalating regional tensions.

Mashhad, a border city in Iran, is located approximately 1,000 kilometers from Qom, a journey that takes around 15 hours by road.

The students are from various institutions, including Islamic Azad University, Iran University of Medical University and Shahed Beheshti University.

From Mashhad, they are expected to be taken to Turkmenistan, from where they will likely board flights to Delhi tomorrow, Friday.

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) and the Indian Embassy in Iran are taking all necessary measures to ensure the safety and smooth evacuation of the students.

Earlier, a flight carrying 110 Indian students who were evacuated from Armenia to Iran reached New Delhi on Thursday.

Meanwhile, the J&K Students Associations thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the External Affairs Minister Dr Jaishankar for launching the timely evacuation effort and ensuring safety and security of the Indian nationals.

“We are grateful to Government of India, especially Prime Minister Narendra Modi and External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar, for launching this timely evacuation effort and for reassuring anxious families back home during this period of uncertainty. We remain hopeful that all remaining students will be evacuated soon”, Nasir Khuehami, National Convenor, Jammu and Kashmir Students Association said.

The Ministry of External Affairs said that India accords highest priority to the safety and security of Indian nationals abroad.

As part of the ongoing operation, the Indian Embassy in Iran has been assisting large numbers of Indian nationals in moving from areas seeing increased hostilities to relatively safer areas within the country and to subsequently evacuate them using the available and feasible options.

Indian nationals in Iran are advised to stay in touch with the Indian Embassy in Tehran through its emergency helpline, and with the 24×7 Control Room established by the Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi.

Earlier, the J&K Students Association wrote a letter to PM Modi, urging the immediate evacuation of Kashmiri students from Iran amid escalating tensions in Iran-Israel conflict.

“We, the Jammu and Kashmir Students Association (JKSA), write to you with deep urgency and grave concern regarding the dire situation faced by hundreds of Kashmiri students currently studying in Iran, following the unprecedented escalation in hostilities between Iran and Israel,” JKSA said in the letter.

The JKSA urged the Prime Minister to direct External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar to take urgent steps to relocate the students to safer areas within Iran and initiate immediate evacuation efforts.

This will provide much-needed relief and assurance to the distressed families back home, they said.

“Given the immediate risks and growing psychological toll, we urge your esteemed office to initiate urgent measures to protect and support these students. The situation demands not just monitoring, but real-time action,” the letter said.