Iran says 3 missing pilots are ‘prisoners’ in Qatar, Doha denies holding them

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said today that it will consider three missing pilots to be prisoners in Qatar, despite Doha’s denials, until it clarifies their fate. At his weekly press briefing, Baghaei responded to a question about the fate of four Iranian pilots: one of them had been killed, his body has been returned, and the other three still remain captive.

Tehran has said the Iranians went missing while carrying out an operation against the United States’ Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar on March 2, shortly after the outbreak of the West Asia war. On Saturday, Iranian authorities alleged for the first time that the pilots have been captured by Qatar.

“It is imperative to obtain clarification on their situation,” foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei told a weekly press briefing. “Until the pilots’ situation is clarified, we consider them prisoners and will spare no effort to shed light on their fate.”

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Tehran had said that the Foreign Ministry’s first correspondence with the International Committee of the Red Cross was sent on March 15 or 16. At the same time, the Iranian embassy in Doha and the Foreign Ministry have begun pursuing the matter through the Qatari Embassy in Tehran. According to Baghei, the issue has also been raised during various meetings and telephone conversations with Qatari officials. Tehran claims that it would use bilateral, multilateral and legal mechanisms to pursue the matter.

Qatar denies holding the pilots and said an invitation had been sent to Iran “to be briefed on the details of the search and rescue operations in April, but the Iranian side has yet to respond”. Qatar's foreign affairs spokesperson Majed Mohammed Al Ansari said contact had been made with the pilots "after they violated Qatari airspace", but that it had not received a response