India in wait-and-watch mode after limited Israeli hit on Iran

NEW DELHI: Following Israel’s retaliatory strike on Iran, Indian govt is closely monitoring the situation but whether it asks Indian nationals in the two countries to leave will depend on whether there is any further escalation.

While Israel did launch an air strike on Iran, its actions so far have been limited in scope, intended perhaps to not escalate further. Iran has denied any of its military or nuclear facilities took a hit in the Israeli action.

For India, if indeed 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 both the countries till further notice. MEA had also urged Indians residing in Iran and Israel to exercise caution and restrict their movement.

While US asked its embassy staff to restrict movement, Australia Friday told its citizens to leave Iran and Israel citing “threat of military reprisals and terrorist attacks”.

“All options are on the table but it’s a wait and watch approach for the time being,” said a govt source who spoke on condition of anonymity. India had earlier also put on hold a proposal to allow thousands of India construction workers to go to Israel, which is facing acute labour shortage, under a bilateral agreement signed last year in May.

Fortunately, both Israel and Iran seemed keen to avoid further escalation with the latter 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, according to a Reuters report, they referred to the incident as an attack by “infiltrators”, rather than by Israel, obviating the need for retaliation.

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