The Indian embassy in Tehran has issued a fresh advisory on Wednesday urging Indian nationals who are currently in Iran – students, pilgrims, business persons and tourists – to leave by available means of transport, including commercial flights.
The embassy reiterated for all Indian citizens and PIOs in Iran to exercise due caution, and asked them to stay aware of areas where protests or demonstrations are underway. The citizens have been urged to remain in contact with the Indian Embassy in Iran and monitor local media reports for any developments.
The embassy also urged Indian nationals to keep their immigration documents available.
“All Indian nationals in Iran are requested to also have their travel and immigration documents, including passports and IDs, readily available with them. They are requested to contact the Indian Embassy for any assistance in this regard,” the advisory said.
“The emergency contact helplines of the Indian Embassy are provided below: Mobile Numbers: +989128109115; +989128109109; +989128109102; +989932179359. Email: cons.tehran@mea.gov.in,” the embassy said.
The embassy has also urged all Indian nationals in Iran, who have not yet registered with the Indian embassy, to do so using this link - https://www.meaers.com/request/home.
“The link is also available on the Embassy website. In case any Indian national is unable to register due to internet disruptions in Iran, their families in India are requested to do so,” the embassy added.
The advisory follows the spectre of US intervention in Tehran.
Iran's revolutionary guards pointed to their battle readiness on Wednesday after US President Donald Trump said if Tehran hanged anti- government protesters there would be consequences.
Iran's stockpile of missiles has increased since a 12-day war with Israel last year, Revolutionary Guards' Aerospace Commander Majid Mousavi said according to state media.
"We are at the peak of our readiness," Mousavi was quoted as saying by state media, adding that wartime damages had been repaired and output in various areas by the guards' aerospace forces was higher than before June 2025.
In an interview with CBS News on Tuesday, Trump vowed "very strong action" if Iran started hanging protesters, but didn't elaborate. "If they hang them, you're going to see some things," he said. He also urged Iranians on Tuesday to keep protesting and take over institutions, declaring "help is on the way" but without giving details.
Responding to Reuters, a White House official said "all options" were at Trump’s disposal to address the situation in Iran.
Iran's foreign minister Abbas Araqchi has warned his country will defend itself against "evil and foreign interference" following Trump's recent comments and Tehran’s judiciary chief promised fast trials and executions.
Iran's judiciary chief Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei made the comment in a video shared by Iranian state television on Wednesday.
He emphasised the need for swift action, saying delays would lessen the impact.
Direct communications between Iran's foreign minister Araqchi and US special envoy Steve Witkoff have been suspended, a senior official told Reuters on Wednesday.
"Tehran has told regional countries, from Saudi Arabia and UAE to Turkey, that US bases in those countries will be attacked if the US targets Iran... asking these countries to prevent Washington from attacking Iran," the official told Reuters.
According to an Israeli assessment, Trump has decided to intervene but the scope and timing of this action remains unclear, an Israeli official said.
A second Israeli source, a government official, said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's security cabinet was briefed late on Tuesday about the chances of regime collapse and the chances of US intervention in Iran.
The US has had no aircraft carriers deployed in the Middle East since October, after the USS Gerald R Ford was sent to the Caribbean in the summer and the USS Nimitz was moved to a port on the US West Coast in the autumn. So any air or missile strikes on Iranian targets, and perhaps at Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, would probably have to come from or involve US and allied airbases in the Middle East, The Guardian reported.
In such a case, the US would have to ask permission to use bases in countries such as Qatar, Bahrain, Iraq, the UAE, Oman and Saudi Arabia (perhaps even the UK's Akrotiri base in Cyprus) - and protect them and their host countries against retaliation.
Some personnel were advised to leave the US military's Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar by Wednesday evening, three diplomats told Reuters.
Al Udeid is the Middle East's largest US base housing around 10,000 troops. Ahead of the US air strikes on Iran in June some personnel were moved off US bases in the Middle East.
The second alternative could be a strike similar to June's long-range B-2 bombing mission against the underground Iranian nuclear site of Fordow. But such an attack against an urban, highly populated site could turn out to be dangerous overkill.
The US might also consider a direct attack on Khamenei, but killing the leader of another country would raise a host of legal concerns and invite a sustained military response. Also, it's unlikely that this would lead to regime change, as the Iranian leader had also lined up three senior clerics on a shortlist to replace him.
The protests which began on December 28 in response to soaring inflation have spiralled into one of the biggest challenges to Iran's clerical establishment since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
A rights group said on Wednesday that the death toll from unrest in Iran climbed to almost 2,600.