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Amid the conflict between Iran and Israel, a total of 292 Indian nationals were evacuated from Iran on a special flight that arrived in New Delhi from Mashhad on Tuesday.
A total of 2295 Indian nationals have now been brought home from Iran till now. In a post on X, the Official Spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs, Randhir Jaiswal, said, "292 Indian nationals were evacuated from Iran on a special flight that arrived in New Delhi from Mashhad at 0330 hrs on 24th June." Baljinder Kaur, a resident of Punjab, who was evacuated from Iran, has been living in Iran for 21 years and works there as a Hindi teacher, said that the government's efforts to evacuate its citizens during difficult times are a matter of pride. "...It feels great. Apna desh apna hi hai. But even there (Iran), we never faced any difficulty. The situation has changed in the past few days; otherwise, we remain safe there too. I have been living there for 21 years and work there as a Hindi teacher... It is a matter of pride that whenever the country or its citizens face difficulty, the Government stands with them. So, we are thankful to them. We are thankful to the Ambassador and staff of the Embassy who brought us here safely." Ziva Jaffrey from Nagpur, who has also evacuated from Iran, said, "We are very thankful, very happy. It feels so good. Our flight was scheduled for 19th June, but it was cancelled. We were anxious, but coming here has put us at ease." The evacuation is part of India's ongoing 'Operation Sindhu' to ensure the safe return of its citizens. Under Operation Sindhu, the Indian government safely evacuated another group of 290 Indian nationals and one Sri Lankan from conflict-hit Mashhad in Iran on Monday. The conflict began on June 13 when Israel launched a massive airstrike on Iranian military and nuclear sites, code-named "Operation Rising Lion". In retaliation, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) initiated a large-scale drone and missile campaign called 'Operation True Promise 3', targeting Israeli fighter jet fuel production facilities and energy supply centres. Tensions escalated further after the US conducted precision airstrikes early Sunday morning on three key Iranian nuclear facilities under "Operation Midnight Hammer". Iran retaliated by launching multiple missiles at US military installations in Qatar and Iraq, including the Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, the largest US military base in the region, CNN reported. (ANI)
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