LUCKNOW, June 19 -- Ravish Zaidi, a Lucknow native working in Tehran, was unable to return home to bid a final farewell to his mother, who died on June 13. Currently stranded in Iran amid escalating hostilities with Israel, Zaidi narrowly escaped a missile strike at his workplace and remains on emergency duty, according to his family.

"He couldn't see our mother for the last time. That's what's hurting him the most," Shahkar Zaidi, Ravish's younger brother, told Hindustan Times, speaking from the family's home in Tahseenganj, Lucknow. "My mother died on June 13, and that very morning, we heard of missile attacks in Iran. We tried contacting Ravish, but all networks were down."

Ravish, who initially went to Iran as a student, later joine...