Three Iranian pilots captured after their fighter jets crashed during the early stages of the Middle East war remain in Qatar, Iranian authorities say, urging the Gulf state to hand them over.
Iran had earlier announced that one pilot had died and others were missing following a March mission to Qatar. At the time, however, officials did not disclose that the pilots were believed to have been taken prisoner.
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General Mohammad Bagherzadeh of Iran’s armed forces said Qatari forces had captured the three men alive after their Su-24 aircraft went down.
In a letter to the International Committee of the Red Cross, he identified the pilots as Javad Salehi, Abdolmajid Dashtian and Omran Behraveshian, saying they had been detained by Qatari forces for six months.
Qatar’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Iran’s military said last month that it had recovered the body of pilot Majid Kazemi, who was killed during the attack on Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar in early March.
The facility hosts forward elements of US Central Command, along with the command’s air forces and special operations forces.
It is the largest US military base in the region.
Qatar’s defence ministry said in early March that it had shot down two Iranian Sukhoi Su-24 bombers. It remained unclear whether those aircraft were the same jets linked to the missing pilots, as Qatar and other countries across the region faced retaliatory strikes after US and Israeli attacks ignited the war.
It was the first reported instance since the conflict began on 28 February of a Gulf state bringing down an Iranian aircraft.
Diplomatic initiatives produced a ceasefire in April, bringing almost 40 days of fighting to an end. A framework for peace talks was signed in June, but the process later fell apart.
Since then, Iran and the US have exchanged fire intermittently, with the heaviest fighting focused in southern Iran and near the Strait of Hormuz.
Qatar was also targeted after the ceasefire collapsed, reporting strikes on its territory and on at least one Qatari tanker travelling through the strait.
The attacks came as Qatar intensified efforts, alongside Pakistan in its early role as mediator, to negotiate an end to the conflict.
US-Iranian hostilities have remained largely quiet since late July, although sporadic attacks on vessels in the Strait of Hormuz have continued.
