SRINAGAR: India has evacuated approximately 67,000 nationals from West Asia since fighting broke out on 28 February 2026 between Israel and the United States on one side and Iran on the other, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar told the Rajya Sabha on Monday in a suo motu statement, as the conflict spread beyond Iran to several Gulf states with mounting casualties and infrastructure destruction.
Jaishankar confirmed that two Indian mariners had been killed and one remained missing following attacks on merchant shipping in the region, and warned that the crisis posed a direct threat to India’s energy security and the livelihoods of nearly one crore Indian citizens living and working across the Gulf.
The minister told Parliament that the security situation had deteriorated significantly since the conflict began, with fighting spreading to multiple nations, infrastructure destroyed, and normal economic activity brought to a halt across the region.
India’s Cabinet Committee on Security met on March 1, under Prime Minister Narendra Modi to assess the crisis, focusing on the safety of the Indian diaspora, the implications for regional trade and energy supply, and difficulties faced by Indian travellers and students with scheduled examinations in the affected countries.
The conflict follows a 12-day war in June 2025, after which the Indian government had been monitoring growing tensions closely. The Ministry of External Affairs had issued successive travel advisories urging Indian nationals to leave Iran from as early as January 5, 2026, with warnings progressively strengthened through February.
Jaishankar told the House that Indian embassies across the region, in Israel, the UAE, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Oman and Iraq, had issued multiple advisories since 28 February. A dedicated special control room has been established at the MEA to handle queries from affected nationals and their families.
Indian diplomats facilitated border crossings from the UAE to Oman and from Qatar, Kuwait and Bahrain into Saudi Arabia. Commercial and non-scheduled flights were approved wherever airspace partially reopened. On March 7, alone, 51 inbound flights operated by Indian carriers landed in India, followed by 49 on March 8, and 50 on March 9.
Indian students in Tehran were relocated away from the capital, and Indian nationals in Iran for business were assisted in crossing into Armenia to return home. The Indian Embassy in Tehran, Jaishankar said, remained fully operational and on the highest alert.
A Quick Response Team constituted by the Directorate General of Shipping on March 2, is operating on a 24-hour basis to coordinate support for Indian seafarers in the region.
