Iran has called on Qatar to admit an Iranian investigation team to determine what happened to pilots Tehran says were captured by Qatari forces, according to Iranian media.
Qatar has denied detaining any Iranian pilots. Doha said yesterday that its search-and-rescue teams recovered the remains of one pilot after Iranian aircraft entered Qatari airspace in March and did not respond to repeated efforts to contact them.
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Qatari authorities said they had reached out to Iran to arrange the transfer of the remains and invited officials to examine records from the search-and-rescue operation. Iran, they said, had not responded.
Mohammad Baqerzadeh, commander of the Committee for the Search for Missing Persons at Iran’s Armed Forces General Staff, said an Iranian Air Force specialist and a fact-finding delegation had been waiting for months for permission to travel to Qatar, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported.
Mr Baqerzadeh accused Kuwait of similarly withholding information about the whereabouts of four Iranians detained there.
Iran said in May that the four men were affiliated with the Revolutionary Guards and had been conducting a maritime patrol when a navigation problem led them into Kuwaiti territorial waters.
Kuwait has said the men were suspected of preparing hostile acts against the country.
