Flights Grounded, Passports Held: India Races To Extract Citizens From Volatile Iran | Exclusive Details

Last Updated:January 15, 2026, 16:34 IST

The operation was being significantly hampered by a near-total internet blackout and a volatile ground situation

Roadblocks and security crackdowns have made movement between university hostels and transit hubs life-threatening. File pic/Reuters

As the security situation in Iran undergoes a dramatic deterioration, the Indian government has pivoted into an emergency footing to safeguard the lives of approximately 10,000 Indian nationals currently in the Islamic Republic. On Thursday, top government sources confirmed to CNN-News18 that the Indian Embassy in Tehran had begun the arduous task of collecting details of stranded citizens, with a particular focus on more than 2,000 medical students. The operation was being significantly hampered by a near-total internet blackout and a volatile ground situation where roadblocks and security crackdowns made movement between university hostels and transit hubs life-threatening.

The most vulnerable group within the Indian community consists of medical students, an estimated 70% of whom hail from Jammu and Kashmir. Enrolled in premier institutions such as the Tehran University of Medical Sciences and Shahid Beheshti University, many of these students come from modest economic backgrounds and travelled to Iran to avail themselves of affordable medical education. Families in the Kashmir Valley have expressed grave concern, noting that their children lack independent transport, emergency funds, and—in several cases—their original passports. Reports suggest that some universities, currently shut due to the unrest, have yet to return academic documents and travel papers to international students, effectively trapping them in their dormitories.

The crisis is equally acute for the Indian business community. Many Kashmiri workers and traders involved in the export-import of pharmaceuticals and agriculture are finding it impossible to honour contracts or collect unpaid dues. In strategically critical areas like the Chabahar Port, project workers remain on-site but are grappling with supply-chain disruptions and rising daily costs. The absence of direct Indian air carriers has created a heavy dependency on foreign airlines, where overbooked flights and sudden airspace closures—triggered by Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) alerts—have seen ticket prices skyrocket, leaving those without significant savings unable to secure a passage home.

While the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has thus far refrained from a scorched-earth crackdown—reportedly to avoid further escalating the Western narrative against the regime—the atmosphere in major cities remains electric. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar spoke with his Iranian counterpart, Abbas Araghchi, late Wednesday to discuss the “evolving regional situation", even as a fresh advisory was issued urging all Indians to leave the country “at the earliest". For the thousands of students and traders waiting indoors in Tehran and Shiraz, the hope remains for a coordinated evacuation effort, as the risk of remaining in the crossfire of a potential revolution grows by the hour.

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