Smoke rises following what Iran says was an Israeli attack on Sharan Oil depot in Tehran, Iran, on June 16, 2025.
| Photo Credit: Reuters
Scores of students from Jammu and Kashmir pursuing professional courses in Iran were reportedly shifted from capital Tehran to safer locations on Monday (June 16, 2025). However, anxious parents are worried about the students who are studying in other cities of Iran, which is facing a major aerial assault from Israel over the past four days.
Israel Iran war: Follow LIVE updates on June 16, 2025
With communication lines, especially Internet service, growing weaker between Iran and India, S. Qadri, a resident of Srinagar, said his daughter informed the family on Monday (June 16, 2025) morning that Kashmiri students were being shifted in batches to Qom, a city in north-central Iran that is considered a safer location.
Saqib Ali, a resident of Budgam, said her sister, studying in a varsity in Tehran, was also shifted to Qom in the past 12 hours. “She said the place is relatively calm compared to Tehran. She was not able to sleep in Tehran in the face of Israeli attacks. They were later shifted in buses. The Internet is slow and we only manage to message them. I appeal to the Government of India and the J&K government to find out a way to evacuate all of them,” Mr. Ali said.
Several students studying in varsities in Tehran told their parents over the phone that they heard loud explosions in Tehran on June 15 and could not sleep due to the threat of Israeli missiles hitting the varsities.
No evacuation in Sheraz
Meanwhile, the father of a student from Nawa Kadal, Srinagar, told the family that the students studying in other cities like Sheraz were not being evacuated yet.
Meanwhile, a spokesman of the J&K Students Association said the students of Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Islamic Azad University and Iran University of Medical Sciences were “successfully relocated on Monday”.
‘Situation rapidly deteriorating’
One estimate suggested around 600 students from Kashmir were shifted to safer locations in Qom. Nasir Khuehami, national convenor of the association, said: “Many students are enrolled in colleges and universities located dangerously close to key military installations and strategic targets. Students have reported hearing airstrike sirens, experiencing tremors, and observing intensified military activity in their surroundings. The situation has deteriorated rapidly since last night, and some students are even in cities where direct Israeli airstrikes have already occurred,” he said.
A police spokesperson in Srinagar urged locals that if any students, workers, or individuals from Srinagar district are presently stranded in Iran due to the prevailing situation there and require assistance, they or their family members may kindly reach out to the District Police, Srinagar for support and assistance. “The collected information will be compiled and forwarded to the concerned authorities for appropriate and timely action,” the police said.
Published – June 16, 2025 09:56 pm IST