Hours after the United States struck three prominent nuclear sites in Iran, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday (June 22, 2025) spoke with the President of Iran Masoud Pezeshkian and called for “immediate de-escalation”. The remark is the first from India which is a strategic partner of Iran and the two sides have been engaged closely to ensure safety of Indian citizens in Iran, as the west Asian conflict escalated on 13 June.

U.S. strikes Iranian nuclear facilities live updates – June 22, 2025

“Spoke with President of Iran Dr Pezeshkian. We discussed in detail about the current situation. Expressed deep concern at the recent escalations. Reiterated our call for immediate de-escalation, dialogue and diplomacy as the way forward and for early restoration of regional peace, security and stability,” said Prime Minister Modi in a message after speaking with President Pezeshkian. India and Iran maintain close communication on multiple bilateral and multilateral issues and New Delhi hosted Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi on 7 May 2025 for the 20th Joint Commission Meeting between India and Iran.

Officials here hinted that they are closely watching the developments in Iran where the United States struck the nuclear sites in Fordow, Natanz and Esfahan. Early Sunday morning, President Donald Trump announced on a Truth Social post, “We have completed our very successful attack on the three Nuclear sites in Iran, including Fordow, Natanz and Esfahan.” President Trump further said that a “full payload” of bombs was dropped on the secretive Fordow uranium enrichment facility. The choice of the Iranian targets and the remarks from the U.S. political leadership drew concern about the fallout of radioactivity from the nuclear energy centres that were hit.

Following the U.S. attacks on the three nuclear sites, Foreign Minister Araghchi called on all UN member states to condemn the U.S. action and indicated Tehran’s changing position about furthering nuclear negotiation with the western powers saying, “Last week, we were in negotiations with the U.S., when Israel decided to blow up that diplomacy. This week, we held talks with the E3/EU when the U.S. decided to blow up that diplomacy. What conclusion would you draw? To Britain and the EU High Rep, it is Iran which must “return” to the table. But how can Iran return to something it never left, let alone blew up?” said Mr. Aragchi in a message posted on his social media handles.

In the above context, speaking to The Hindu, officials here indicated they are also studying the developments at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that was working with the Iranian government to ensure that the nuclear facilities at Natanz, Fordow and Esfahan operated as per safety protocols. India will participate in an emergency IAEA Board of Governors meeting on Monday, officials here said. According to the UN, the IAEA also monitored “radiation measures” and evaluated emergency preparedness at these sites in Iran that has been a member of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). India is one of the 35-members of the Board of Governors of IAEA which supervises the nuclear domain worldwide.

“In view of the increasingly serious situation in terms of nuclear safety and security, the Board of Governors will meet in an extraordinary session tomorrow, which I will address,” IAEA’s Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said in a statement calling for an emergency meeting of the Board of Governors on Monday (June 23, 2025).

Continuing with the evacuation of Indian citizens from Iran, two more flights are on track to bring back nationals from Mashhad in Iran to New Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport (Terminal 3) on Sunday (June 22, 2025). India had been in contact with Iran, Israel and other countries including Armenia, United Arab Emirates and Egypt to evacuate citizens from the crisis spots under Operation Sindhu. Following escalation of the fight, both Iran and Israel had shut down their respective airspaces prompting Indians to leave through land borders with Armenia and the Turkmenistan. The Government of India began evacuating Sri Lankan and Nepali citizens starting Saturday onwards.