Following Israel’s retaliatory strike on Iran, the Indian government is monitoring the situation but whether it asks Indian nationals in the two countries to leave will depend on whether there is further escalation.
While Israel did launch an air strike on Iran its actions have been limited in scope, intended perhaps not escalate further. Iran has denied any of its military or nuclear facilities took a hit in Israeli action.
For India, if the situation worsens, the top priority would be to safely evacuate Indian nationals in both the countries. India had earlier issued an advisory, but it was restricted to asking Indian nationals to not travel to the two countries till further notice. The MEA also urged Indians living in Israel and Iran to exercise caution and restrict their movement.
While the US asked its embassy staff to restrict movement, Australia on April 19, 2024 told its citizens to leave Iran and Israel citing threat of military reprisals and terrorist attacks. “All options are on the table, but it is a wait and watch approach for the time being, said a government source who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
India had earlier also put a hold on the proposal to allow thousands of its workers (Construction Workers) to got to Israel, which is facing acute labour shortage under a bilateral agreement signed last year in the month of May.
Israeli ambassador to India Naor Gilon told Indian media that “For us, the workers are not different from other Israeli nationals, as you saw last night there was a huge effort by Israel and we were able to protect our civilians, since we treat Indian workers as part of the Israeli population, they will be safe as the Israeli population.
Fortunately, both Iran and Israel seemed to avoid a direct confrontation and escalation with the former playing down the Israeli action and indicating it had no plans to retaliate. Iranian media and officials described a small number of explosions which they said, resulted from air defences hitting three drones over the city of Isfahan in central Iran.
Notably, as per a report from a reputed international media agency, they referred to the incident as an attack by the infiltrators, rather than by Israel, obviating the need for retaliation.
