New Delhi: After a row of sleepless nights punctuated by the sound of explosions, Indian Imtisal Mohiudin, a third-year MBBS student at Shahid Beheshti Medical University in Tehran, takes off for Qom with 300 other Indian students. All he wants is to return home to Kashmir before it is “too late”.
“There were attacks and explosions just five kilometres away from our university campus in Tehran. Every night, there are loud noises. We have not been able to sleep since the day this war began. All we want is for our government to evacuate us before it is too late. This war will not stop soon,” Mohiudin tells ThePrint over a call while travelling by bus to Qom in north central Iran, nearly 150 km from Tehran.
As tensions between Israel and Iran enter the fourth day, with strikes in Tehran risking the lives of civilians, Indian students are evacuating to safer climes while Indian tourists are scrambling to find ways to exit. Iran has cited a death toll of 224 so far, claiming that 90 percent of the victims are civilians.
Currently, over 1,500 Indian students, a majority of whom hail from Jammu and Kashmir, are stranded in Iran. Concerns among their family members are mounting as they are failing to contact their loved ones. There is limited access to the Internet in Iran, a country that restricts access to social media platforms.
Most Indian students in Iran are pursuing MBBS degrees in cities such as Tehran, Kish, and Arak at universities, including the Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Islamic Azad University, and the Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences.
The Indian embassy began evacuations Monday, relocating students from Tehran, which is at the center of Israeli strikes, to relatively safer cities.
“We are relocating right now, but we do not know what is going to happen next,” says Ahnaf Ishaq, a third-year MBBS student at Shahid Beheshti University. “The airspace remains shut, and the airports are closed. There is not much we can do at this point. There is this constant, uneasy feeling that something could happen at any moment.”
Ishaq confirms to ThePrint that he crossed the Tehran border as part of the initial round of evacuations. He also adds that the news of a blast in Tehran injuring two Kashmiri students has left Indian students “shaken”.
“That incident changed everything for us,” he says. “You start getting flashbacks—thinking of your family waiting for you back home. We are sleeping with our bags packed, ready to leave at a moment’s notice.”
“Relocation is not enough. We do not just want to move to another city. We want a safe evacuation all the way home. We are students who came here with dreams and not for training to handle airstrikes.”
An official with Delhi’s Iran Culture House tells ThePrint that concerned Indian relatives have contacted him, asking about the whereabouts of their family members.
Students outside Tehran
It is not just Tehran, but students in other parts of Iran are also calling for immediate evacuation.
Qurat-ul-Ain, a third-year MBBS student from Kupwara, is currently stuck at the international campus of the Tehran University of Medical Sciences on Kish Island in the Persian Gulf—nearly six hours to the south of Tehran by flight.
She describes growing anxiety and heightened fears.
“There are 27 of us (Indians) here on Kish Island. Recently, there was an attack near Bandar Abbas, which is not far from us, and we are all just frightened. It is not about whether our area feels safe right now. It is a war, and nothing feels truly safe anymore,” she tells ThePrint.
Israel targeted a gas infrastructure facility near Bandar Abbas, roughly a six-hour drive from Kish Island, on 14 June. Bandar Abbas, a strategic location, is close to the Strait of Hormuz, a key gateway for oil and gas transit.
Students on Kish Island are urging the Indian authorities to take immediate action. “There is a ferry service from Kish to Dubai. We are pleading with the (Indian) embassy to help us get to Dubai, so we can return to India.”
Ali Chaudhary, a student at the University of Arak, where nearly 300 Indians study, emphasises the precarity of their situation. He hails from Amroha, Uttar Pradesh.
“The situation is still stable, but there is a nuclear facility nearby, so it is not safe for us to stay here,” he says, adding that nearly 300 Indians study at the university.
Arak, a city in the Markazi province, is a four-hour drive from Tehran. The Arak nuclear facility appears not to have been hit in the first wave of Israeli strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities, according to reports.
Zameer Abbas Jaffri, an Indian national and professor at Al-Mustafa International University in Qom, where Indian students are evacuating, tells ThePrint that over a thousand Indian students live in Tehran. “From Tehran, Indian students are shifting to Qom and other relatively safer places,” Jaffri says. “The situation in Qom is currently normal. Petrol pumps and shops in the surrounding areas are functioning.”
According to Jaffri, the most significant indicator of war is panic buying or the rush to stock up. However, everything is currently functioning smoothly in Qom, with no such hurry.
“Here, people are aware that tensions between Iran and Israel may escalate, but so far, there is no major indicator of that … There is no anxiety among the people,” Jaffri says.
Explaining the calm in Qom, famous primarily for its religious significance within Shia Islam, Jaffri says that the prevailing ideology in the province is “shahadat (sacrifice)”, so there was less fear among the people.
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Tourist accounts
An 11-day holiday across Iran turned awry for an Indian tourist when he woke up in Yazd to a phone call from a panicked friend, who informed him of the strikes on Iran.
Located in central Iran, Yazd is one of the world’s oldest cities, popular for its Persian architecture, including historic mud-brick buildings and windcatchers, from which Yazd gets another name, ‘City of Windcatchers’.
While it was business as usual in Yazd, with cafes and restaurants open, the Indian tourist acquired a United Arab Emirates visa for a ferry from Bandar Abbas, Iran, to Sharjah, UAE. However, he has been unable to secure a ticket on the earliest ferry, which leaves on Tuesday.
“We will go to the port tomorrow (Tuesday) and just wait it out,” he says, speaking to ThePrint over WhatsApp. “When we informed of our situation, the (Indian) consulate assured us of its full support.”
He is spending Monday night at a hotel in Bandar Abbas, but now has an additional concern—the shortage of funds.
The tourist, who always dreamt of visiting Iran, booked his air ticket as soon as he realised that Iran had waived the visa for Indian tourists.
“I had been following Iran tourism pages on social media for 10 years,” says the tourist. He booked the trip through a tour operator, and another Indian tourist, who declines to speak to ThePrint, is currently with him.
The day after the first strikes on Iran, the tourist contacted the Indian embassy, and the officials told him to “stay safe and follow important social media handles”.
The Indian embassy has been sharing information on X, but Iran has imposed a block on the platform since 2009, with restrictions tightened during periods of unrest.
“Twitter is not working now, and I am unable to get news on time. I could access it through a VPN earlier, but now, that is not working either,” the tourist says.
Owing to an Internet lag, the Delhi Iran Culture House official quoted above in the report can not contact his son in Iran, and he is not alone.
A 40-year-old man of Indian origin, currently living in Iran with his family, arrived in his home country, India, last month. Now, he can not keep in touch with his family but for brief moments due to the Internet restrictions in Iran.
“Trying to use a VPN so I can talk to my wife and children. Tried on Monday morning, as well. But, no success,” he tells ThePrint.
The embassy directive shared on X advises all Indian nationals and persons of Indian origin to “remain in touch with the embassy, avoid all unnecessary movements in Iran and follow embassy social media pages”. A list of helpline numbers is also available. There is also a newly created Telegram channel for sharing updates.
However, Indians in Iran are failing to get much information through due to Internet restrictions in Iran.
The 40-year-old man says he “is not worried” as his family lives a safe distance away from the cities under attack, but he adds that his family is growing concerned for their safety.
Fears & a letter
Fear has descended on the Indian community in Iran, with many reeling under the unexpected disruption to their regular lives as students and professionals.
“On Friday, we saw many updates about attacks in Tehran. We thought it would die down, but the situation escalated. We had final exams scheduled from Tuesday, but those have now been postponed till October,” says Faizan Nabi, a first-year student at Kerman University of Medical Sciences in the southeastern region of Iran. “It feels like our entire year is at stake, but first and foremost, we want all Indian students to reach home safely.”
Students are terrified, and some universities have cancelled exams.
“From what we are hearing from our friends in Tehran, the situation is dangerous. We hope to be evacuated as soon as possible,” says Chaudhury from the University of Arak.
The Jammu and Kashmir Students Association on Monday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, requesting the urgent evacuation of Indian students. “This is not just a diplomatic or logistical matter; it is a humanitarian emergency. The lives, safety, and mental well-being of our youth are at stake. We cannot wait for the situation to worsen before we act. Timely intervention will not only save lives but also reassure thousands of families in Kashmir who are currently living in fear for their children.”
“We hope this urgent appeal receives your immediate and compassionate attention. The students from Jammu and Kashmir studying in Iran are our responsibility, and their safe return home must be a national priority,” says Nasir Khuehami, the national convener of the Jammu and Kashmir Students Association.
(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)
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