TEHRAN: A six-month mystery over three Iranian pilots has escalated into a diplomatic dispute between Tehran and Doha, with Iran saying Monday that it will consider the airmen prisoners in Qatar until their fate is established, while Qatar continues to deny holding them.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said Tehran was determined to establish what happened to the pilots, who disappeared after their Su-24 aircraft were shot down during a March 2 mission linked to an attack on the U.S.
Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar. Iran has accused Qatari forces of capturing the pilots alive, while Doha says its search-and-rescue teams recovered the remains of only one airman.
“It is imperative to obtain clarification on their situation,” Baqaei said at a weekly news briefing. “Until the pilots’ situation is clarified, we consider them prisoners and will spare no effort to shed light on their fate.”
Iran has identified the missing pilots as Javad Salehi, Abdolmajid Dashtian and Omran Behraveshian. Tehran has asked the International Committee of the Red Cross to intervene and has urged Qatar to allow an Iranian Air Force fact-finding team into the country to investigate the incident.
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Iran’s military previously reported that one pilot was killed and three others were missing following the mission. Tehran only publicly alleged Saturday that the three surviving pilots had been captured by Qatari forces.
The latest claims have added pressure to an already sensitive relationship between the neighboring countries, particularly as Qatar continues to play a role in regional diplomatic efforts.
Doha has categorically denied holding any Iranian pilots or other surviving aircrew.
Qatar’s Foreign Ministry said its forces had engaged Iranian aircraft after they entered Qatari airspace and failed to respond to warnings. Qatari search-and-rescue teams later recovered the remains of one pilot, identified by Iran as Majid Kazemi.
Qatar also said it invited an Iranian team in April to receive a briefing on its search-and-rescue operations, but Tehran has not responded to the invitation, according to Qatari officials.
The incident occurred just days after the broader Middle East conflict began on Feb. 28, when U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran triggered retaliatory attacks across the region.
Qatar’s Al Udeid Air Base, which hosts U.S. military personnel and is one of Washington’s most important military installations in the region, was targeted during the conflict. Qatar said its air defenses shot down two Iranian Su-24 bombers during the March 2 incident.
The dispute over the missing pilots comes as wider diplomatic efforts remain fragile. Qatar has sought to maintain its position as a mediator between regional rivals, making the conflicting accounts over the airmen another potential obstacle to de-escalation.
For now, the fate of the three pilots remains unresolved, with Tehran demanding answers and Doha maintaining that it is not holding them.
