Qatar denies holding 3 Iranian pilots; says one found dead after ‘airspace violation’
Doha: Qatar has rejected Iran’s claim that three Iranian pilots were captured after ejecting from fighter jets during a March mission, saying its search and rescue teams recovered the remains of one pilot.
Qatar's Foreign Ministry said on Saturday that its forces were not holding three Iranian pilots, contradicting an account carried by Iranian state media.
A ministry spokesperson said the pilots had violated Qatari airspace in March and failed to respond to repeated attempts by Qatari authorities to establish contact.
According to Qatar, search and rescue teams later recovered the remains of one of the pilots. Doha said it contacted Iranian authorities to coordinate the handover but had not received a response to an invitation to review details of the operation.
Iran says pilots were captured alive
The Qatari statement followed a report by Iran's state news agency IRNA quoting a senior military official as saying that three Iranian pilots had been captured alive by Qatari forces.
Iran said the pilots had ejected from their fighter jets after the aircraft were hit during a mission targeting a military base in Qatar.
Iran's Armed Forces General Staff also said it had appealed to the International Committee of the Red Cross to help secure the release of the three pilots it believed were being held by Qatar.
The Iranian military called on the Red Cross to investigate the pilots' reported capture and determine their fate.
Dispute unfolds amid wider regional conflict
The conflicting accounts come against the backdrop of a wider US-Israel-Iran conflict that began with US and Israeli attacks on Iran on February 28.
Iran has accused the US and Israel of using military bases in Gulf Arab states during the attacks. Tehran subsequently launched strikes against targets in Israel and US military facilities across the Gulf.
Qatar said its actions in March followed the entry of the Iranian pilots into its airspace and their failure to respond to attempts by Qatari authorities to establish communication.
Why the dispute matters
The disagreement over the pilots adds another point of tension between Iran and Qatar amid a broader regional confrontation.
The involvement of the International Committee of the Red Cross could provide a channel for clarifying what happened to the pilots. However, Qatar's denial and Iran's continued claim that the three were captured alive leave the circumstances unresolved.
The conflicting accounts also highlight the wider risks of military operations involving Gulf airspace, where several countries host foreign military forces and have sought to avoid being drawn directly into the conflict.