In August 1990, then External Affairs Minister IK Gujral embraced Saddam Hussain on a visit to Iraq just after Iraq invaded Kuwait. When the picture of the two embracing came out in the press, there was a lot of criticism. But the embrace was a clincher for 1.7 lakh Indians in Kuwait.

Iraqi authorities permitted the evacuation, with 488 Air India flights over 63 days bringing back more than 1 lakh Indians as part of Operation Airlift.

With West Asia volatile again, concerns are rising about the Indians living in the region, especially the up to 10,000 students, business operators and others in and around Iran’s capital region of Tehran. Previous successful missions in this regard underscore hope. But India also confronts an unprecedented crisis: the sheer logistical feat of evacuation an estimated 10 million Indians amid a web of airspace closures.

Currently, about 9,000-10,000 Indian nationals – including students, workers, pilgrims, tourists, business persons, and seafarers – reside across 16 provinces in Iran, according to External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar’s written February 6 response to a starred question asked by Trinamool Congress MP Sougata Ray. Ray has sought information on whether the Government of India had assessed the impact of political unrest in Iran on Indians residing there, their possible repatriation, and their current numbers. Government of India statistics have recorded a steady uptick in the number of Indians in Iran over the last few years.

According to the Sixth Report of the Committee on External Affairs (2024-25) on the subject ‘Indian Diaspora Overseas, including NRIs, PIOs, OCIs and Migrant Workers: All Aspects of their Conditions and Welfare, including the Status of the Emigration Bill’, the Indian population in Iran recorded an uptick of more than 4,700 across various categories between January 2023 and January 2024. This included an increase in the number of Persons of Indian origin from 418 to 445 and of Non-Resident Indians from 5,600 to 10,320, resulting in the total Indian population in Iran being recorded at 10,765, compared with 6,018 the previous year.

How many Indian citizens are currently in Gulf countries facing conflict?

According to government sources, an estimated 10 million Indian citizens reside in what has gradually transformed into a theatre of war in West Asia. Given the logistical challenge of evacuating the sheer number of so many citizens through a web of airspace closures and dynamic security concerns is a significant factor which may need “other measures” to be utilised to ensure their safety.

Six of the Gulf nations currently under conflict following the Israel-United States attack on Iran are home to more than 96% of Indian workers who travelled abroad for employment over the last five years, according to official government data. According to the Ministry of External Affairs, as many as 15,49,341 of the 16,06,964 Indian workers holding Emigration Check Required (ECR) passports proceeding for employment overseas to any of the 18 notified ECR category countries from 1 January 2020 to 30 June 2025 are in Saudi Arabia, UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman and Qatar.

According to government data, the total number of Indians provided ECs during this period over the last five years for various Gulf countries includes 40,407 for Bahrain, 8,275 for Iran, 201,959 for Kuwait, 116,840 for Oman, 153,501 for Qatar, 695,269 for Saudi Arabia and 341,365 for the UAE.

Is an evacuation mission planned?

As of now, there are no evacuation plans by the Ministry of External Affairs. Also, because of the closure of airspace in Dubai and Abu Dhabi since the last two days, any evacuation attempt is presently not feasible. New Delhi is likely to wait and watch for the next two-three days – which is a key to understand how the situation unfolds – before any repatriation efforts can be planned or executed.

Airports in UAE (except Abu Dhabi which saw limited passenger flights on Monday; one towards London), Bahrain, Qatar and Kuwait are shut because of airspace closures.

However, since the Omani airspace is right now open, some people from Dubai, Sharjah and Abu Dhabi who have an Indian passport are getting out via Muscat, which is running flights to India. For Indian nationals with a valid US/UK visa, Oman visa is on arrival. Othwerwise you have to apply for e-visa online. They have to reach Hatta border (UAE-Oman border) by road (approx 200km), and after immigration formalities, which take about two hours, they can reach Muscat airport by road in another four hours.

What are some of the recent evacuation missions?

The Government of India has successfully evacuated more than 3.2 crore citizens settled across the world during various global crises ranging from the COVID pandemic to the Russia-Ukraine war in as many operations over the last five years.

According to submissions made by the Government to various questions regarding the evacuation of Indian citizens from foreign conflict zones raised in Parliament over the last half-a-decade, the most successful operation in this regard over the last five years was the ‘Vande Bharat Mission’ launched in response to requests from families of Indian nationals stranded abroad during COVID.

The most recent iteration of such a mission recently happened to be in Iran – dubbed ‘Operation Sindhu’, it was successfully carried out in June 2025 to evacuate Indian nationals from conflict zones in West Asia. It led to the evacuation of 4415 Indian nationals – 3597 from Iran and 818 from Israel — using 19 special evacuation flights (including 3 IAF C-17 aircraft) as routine flight services were not available on account of ongoing hostilities. “India was one of the first countries to undertake such rapid evacuation operations despite the complexities involved,” EAM Jaishankar said in response to Congress Lok Sabha MP Suresh Kumar Shetkar on February 6.

How are evacuation missions aimed at rescuing Indians from conflict zones planned?

According to the MEA, in case of an outbreak of conflict or any other exigencies, the evacuation of Indian citizens is planned on a case-to-case basis, based on a number of factors, like number and location of Indian nationals within the country, security situation on ground and availability of evacuation/exit routes within the country and those with neighbouring countries. “Appropriate advisories are issued by the Indian missions in such situations so that the Indian citizens can move out of the conflict areas in time” the MEA adds.

What was the Vande Bharat Mission?

According to the government, the Vande Bharat Mission, which saw the Government of India facilitate travel for 3.20 crore people – disembarkation of 1.60 crore and embarkation of 1.60 crore – including Air Bubble arrangements till March 2022, was its most successful evacuation mission in this regard. A total of Rs. 22.54 crore was spent — Rs. 15.59 crore for arranging special chartered flights and Rs. 6.95 crore on air passage of individual Indian nationals on need basis – from the Indian Community and Welfare Fund (ICWF) through Indian Missions/Posts abroad during Vande Bharat Mission. Similar evacuation operations were also carried out in response to emerging geopolitical contingencies – especially those based on armed conflict – from Afghanistan, Sudan, the vicinity of Ukraine-Russia as well as West Asia.

What are some other similar missions?

As many as 565 people including 438 Indians were evacuated from Afghanistan by the Government of India under the “Operation Devi Shakti” in 2021 based on requests to the Special Afghanistan Cell of the Ministry of External Affairs. This was done in the context of the Taliban takeover.

As part of ‘Operation Ganga, which was launched in response to the Ukraine-Russia war, 18,282 Indian nationals, mainly students, were brought back to India from Ukraine at the Government of India’s cost by 90 flights, of which 76 were commercial flights and 14 IAF flights in February and March 2022.

In ‘Operation Kaveri’, following a crisis in Sudan on April 15, 2023, as many as 4,097 people, including 136 foreigners, were brought back to India from Sudan with the help of 18 IAF sorties, 5 trips of Indian Navy ships and 20 commercial flights at Government of India’s cost. Of those evacuated, 108 Indian nationals moved through Sudan’s land borders with Chad, Egypt, Ethiopia and South Sudan.

Following hostilities in the region after an attack by militant group Hamas in Israel in October, 2023, ‘Operation Ajay’ was launched and saw the evacuation of 1343 people, including 1309 Indian nationals, 14 OCI card holders and 20 Nepalese, to India from Israel in 6 special flights under Operation Ajay at Government of India’s cost.

What about similar missions by previous governments?

Before these, too, there were some memorable rescue missions. In 2011, when the Libyan Civil War broke out, India swung into action to evacuate 15,000 Indians from the country by air, land and sea. The operation was named Operation Safe Homecoming.

In 2006, then Minister of Defence Pranab Mukherjee told the Lok Sabha, “At the outbreak of recent hostilities between Israel and Lebanon, about 12000 Indians were residing in Lebanon. The Indian Navy evacuated 2280 persons, who desired to leave, from Beirut from 20 to 29 July, 2006…. One Indian national was killed.”

In 2003, when the US attacked Iraq, 5705 Indians were evacuated by Air India and Indian Airlines flights between March 18 and 31 on the payment of normal fares, MoS Civil Aviation Sripad Naik informed the Lok Sabha.

With inputs from Divya A