Iran Reveals Three Missing Pilots Held by Qatar

Iran has asked Qatar to release three Iranian Air Force pilots who are said to have been captured after the Su-24 fighter jet they were flying crashed during the war in the Middle East.

General Mohammad Bagherzadeh of the Iranian Armed Forces said the three pilots were still alive when they were captured by Qatari forces. According to him, the three have been in detention for around six months.

“Three Iranian pilots were captured alive by Qatari forces after their Su-24 fighter jet crashed during the war,” Bagherzadeh said, as reported by AFP on Sunday (16/8).

The three pilots in question are Javad Salehi, Abdolmajid Dashtian, and Omran Behraveshian. In a letter addressed to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Bagherzadeh requested that the three be released immediately.

He also said the pilots have not had the opportunity to meet or communicate with their families since being detained.

Previously, the Iranian government had only stated that the three pilots were missing. The suspicion that they had been captured by Qatari forces was not disclosed to the public at that time.

Last month, the Iranian military also announced that it had found the body of a pilot named Majid Kazemi. He was said to have been killed in an attack on Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar in early March.

Al Udeid Base is one of the largest United States military installations in the Middle East region. The facility hosts a number of elements of US Central Command (CENTCOM), including the air force command and special operations forces.

The latest conflict in the region broke out on 28 February after the United States and Israel launched attacks against Iran. Tehran then responded by launching attacks on a number of areas.

Diplomatic efforts subsequently produced a ceasefire in April, after fighting had lasted for nearly 40 days. A peace negotiation framework was then agreed in June, but the process ultimately failed.

Since then, Iran and the United States have remained engaged in a series of sporadic attacks. The fighting has been concentrated mainly in southern Iran and around the Strait of Hormuz. The situation in the region is reported to have relatively calmed since late July, although tensions between the two sides have not fully ended.