India urges citizens to leave Tehran

The Indian Embassy in the Iranian capital has asked its citizens and people of Indian origin to leave Tehran.

An estimated 10,000 Indians live and work in Iran.

India's Ministry of Foreign Affairs says that, given the developing situation in Iran, Indian students in Tehran “have left the city for security reasons” and some of its citizens “have been relieved to leave Iran via the land border with Armenia”. Many of the Indian students reportedly are from India's managed Kashmir, the BBC reported.

Iran was one of the leading suppliers of crude oil in India, the third largest oil importer and consumer in the world. But Delhi stopped importing Iranian fuel due to US sanctions in 2019.

Delhi maintains friendly ties with both Israel and Iran. Last year Delhi signed a 10-year agreement with Tehran to develop and operate the strategically important Chabahar port in the southeastern part of the country in a contract estimated to be around $370m (272m).

The port opened a transit route for Indian goods and products to Afghanistan and Central Asia, avoiding land route through India's fierce rival Pakistan. Immediately after the signing of the deal, the US warned of possible sanctions for any country that reviews business agreements with Iran. With the escalation of the conflict between Israel and Iran, there may be concerns about the future of the Chabahar port project./Periscopi/

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