“Alive for Six Months”: Iran Accuses Qatar of Detaining Three Pilots - Sarmad
A member of the search committee for missing persons in the Iranian Armed Forces General Staff, Bagherzadeh, announced that Qatar has been holding three Iranian pilots for six months and called on the Red Cross to intervene immediately to secure their release.
The committee official stated that the pilots, Javad Salahi, Abdolmajid Dashtian, and Omid Behroozian, were captured by Qatari forces, noting that they are alive, following the crash of their Sukhoi-24 fighter jets during operations last March against what Tehran described as an “enemy military base” in Qatar.
The official clarified that the detainees have been held in Qatari prisons for six months, with authorities there preventing them from any contact with their families or officials monitoring their case.
He emphasized that the Third Geneva Convention obligates the International Red Cross to visit the pilots as soon as possible to verify their health conditions and work toward providing suitable circumstances for their release.
This disclosure aims to resolve the debate over the pilots’ fate, as Iran had previously announced the recovery of the body of pilot Majid Kazemi only, while the fate of his three colleagues remained unknown until this official announcement.
In this context, Majid Mohammed Al-Ansari, the official spokesperson for the Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs, denied circulating claims about the detention of Iranian pilots, describing them as “misleading.”
Al-Ansari expressed surprise at the timing of the allegations, which coincided with ongoing diplomatic efforts to de-escalate tensions in the region.
In a media statement, Al-Ansari explained that the pilots in question had violated Qatari airspace, and contact was attempted with them in accordance with rules of engagement, but without response, necessitating defensive measures to protect Qatari territory in accordance with international law, which had been previously clarified through official channels.
He added that Qatar’s highly competent search and rescue teams had fulfilled their duty in searching for the pilots’ remains, and that Doha had coordinated with Tehran for the handover of the remains of one pilot found, in accordance with international humanitarian law.
Al-Ansari revealed that Qatar had invited an Iranian delegation in April last year to visit and review the details of the search and rescue operations, but the Iranian side had not responded to the invitation so far, he said.
