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Iran has made an exception for India as it opened its airspace for the evacuation of Indian nationals, despite escalating tensions with Israel. Three Mahan Air flights have been arranged to bring approximately 1,000 Indian students back home from Mashhad in Iran. The first of these flights is scheduled to land in Delhi tonight.

This comes after India launched 'Operation Sindhu' to facilitate the evacuation of its citizens from Iran, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) announced on Wednesday.

The mission was initiated in response to the rapidly deteriorating situation in the region, with reports suggesting that several Indian students may have sustained injuries following an attack near a medical student dormitory on Tehran's Keshavarz Street, news agency PTI reported.

Officials from the Iranian embassy in New Delhi confirmed that their foreign ministry is in direct contact with the Indian mission in Tehran regarding the injured students. However, the Indian government has not yet issued an official statement addressing the reported injuries.

"India accords highest priority to the safety and security of Indian nationals abroad," the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said.

An estimated 4,000 Indians currently reside in Iran, with students accounting for about half of this population. On Tuesday, Indian officials assisted 110 students based in northern Iran in crossing the border into Armenia. From there, they travelled to Yerevan under the oversight of Indian diplomatic teams in both Tehran and Yerevan, PTI reported.

A special flight carrying the evacuated students departed Yerevan at 2:55 PM on June 18 and is expected to land in New Delhi in the early hours of June 19 as part of the initial phase of Operation Sindhu.

India has expressed appreciation to both Iran and Armenia for their cooperation in making the evacuation process successful.

India has been proactively relocating citizens from areas facing higher risks to safer zones within Iran amid the ongoing conflict. "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," the MEA said.

The MEA has also urged all Indian nationals in Iran to remain in close contact with the Indian embassy in Tehran through its emergency communication lines. A dedicated 24x7 control room has also been set up in New Delhi to assist with coordination and information dissemination.