“I woke up at 2:30 am on Friday to loud explosions and rushed to the basement. We haven’t slept since,” says Imtisal Mohidin, one of hundreds of Indian medical students stranded in Iran as Israeli airstrikes rip through the nation. With bombs just some kilometres from student hostel complexes and apartment blocks, the terror is mounting so is the appeal to the Government of India: evacuate us now, or it could be too late. Imtisal, a 22-year-old third-year MBBS student at Tehran’s Shahid Beheshti University, reports that more than 350 Indian students are studying at his university alone.
“We are stuck inside our apartment basement. We hear blasts every night. One of the explosions was just 5 km away. We haven’t slept in three days,” he said to ANI. He is from Handwara in Kupwara district of Jammu and Kashmir and adds that classes have been suspended in the university and students are keeping away from movement because of shelling. Shahid Beheshti University welcomes Indian nationals because it has a low-cost and quality MBBS program. It should be mentioned here that three Iranian nuclear scientists who were martyred in Israel’s attack on Iran were students of Shahid Beheshti University.
“We request the Government of India to evacuate us before the situation worsens. The Embassy has shared helplines and is in touch, but we are frightened and need to go home,” Mohidin further said. The Indian Embassy in Iran, in a new public advisory, requested the Indian nationals and individuals of Indian origin to remain indoors and keep following official sources. “We request everyone in Iran to join the below given Telegram link to receive updates on the situation from the Embassy. Kindly note that this Telegram link is ONLY for those Indian nationals who are currently in Iran,” it stated in an X post. The embassy has also issued emergency helplines for Indian nationals. Faizan Nabi, a third-year MBBS student at Kerman University of Medical Sciences, remarked that although Kerman is relatively safer than Tehran, apprehension is gaining speed.“We heard gunshots in our city today. My friends in Tehran are terrified. We were advised to store drinking water for 3–4 days. That’s how bad it is,” he said.
One of Srinagar’s inhabitants, Faizan, explained“I’ve been getting 10 calls a day from my parents. The internet is so slow that I can’t even send a WhatsApp message quickly. We came here to become doctors. Now we’re just trying to stay alive.” Midhat, fourth-year MBBS student at Iran University of Medical Science, said the worst night was the first night of strikes. “The blasts were not far but just a few kilometres away. Everyone was panicking. My family keeps checking on me. We’re constantly monitoring the news,” said the student from Sopore in Jammu and Kashmir. While she said the Indian Embassy was in touch through WhatsApp, she added that her university hasn’t provided much support. “Most of us are scared and staying inside. We don’t know how long this will go on,” she said. With Iranian skies closed off and no timeline on when the bloodshed will subside, the students now await the only thing they claim will bring relief to their families, a return flight.
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Sunday asserted that the Indian Embassy in Tehran is actively monitoring the security situation amid rising regional tensions. It stated that the embassy is in regular contact with Indian students to ensure their safety. In some cases, students are being relocated by the Embassy to safer areas within Iran, stated the MEA.
