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Tehran presses Doha
Iran demanded that Qatar release three Iranian pilots it says were captured after their Su-24 fighter jets crashed during the war, with General Mohammad Bagherzadeh telling the International Committee of the Red Cross that "Javad Salehi, Abdolmajid Dashtian and Omran Behraveshian have been held by Qatari forces for six months."
“Javad Salehi, Abdolmajid Dashtian and Omran Behraveshian have been held by Qatari forces for six months”
The Iranian demand came after Iran previously reported one pilot killed and others missing following a sortie to Qatar in March, and after Iran’s military said it had retrieved the body of pilot Majid Kazemi killed during an attack on Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar in early March.
Qatar rejected the detention claim, with foreign ministry spokesman Majed Al Ansari saying on X, "We categorically deny the claims circulating regarding the detention of Iranian pilots & are surprised by these misleading statements."
Qatar said rescuers "carried out their duties to the fullest" searching for the pilots’ remains and that it contacted Iran to coordinate a handover of the remains of one pilot found.
The dispute unfolded as diplomatic efforts led to an April ceasefire, ending nearly 40 days of fighting, before a framework for peace talks in June later collapsed, leaving the conflict’s wider tensions unresolved.
Letters, families, Red Cross
In its letter to the ICRC, Bagherzadeh alleged the three pilots had not been allowed to meet or contact their families or Iranian officials handling their cases, and he asked the ICRC for help to follow up on their fate.
Qatar’s response, as Majed Al Ansari said on X, was that contact had been made with the pilots after they violated Qatari airspace, but that it had not received a response, adding that "The necessary measures were taken to defend our territory in accordance with international law."
The BBC reported that Bagherzadeh said the pilots had been captured by Qatar after they ejected from their jets during a combat mission targeting a Qatari military base, and it said Qatar denied capturing them.
The BBC also reported that Qatar said it contacted Iran to "co-ordinate the handover of the remains of one of the pilots that were recovered" and that Tehran had yet to respond to an invitation to review details of the search and rescue operation.
The confrontation over the pilots’ status became a new point of tension between Tehran and Doha even as the fighting between the United States and Iran remained in a lull since late July, with sporadic attacks on vessels in the Strait of Hormuz continuing.
Bigger war stakes
The pilots dispute is playing out alongside broader pressure points in the war, including Iran’s claims about the Strait of Hormuz and Qatar’s role as a mediator, with the conflict described as centered in southern Iran and around the Strait of Hormuz.
“This strait will open and close only under Iran’s control”
In Iran’s messaging about the strait, Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi wrote on X, "This strait will open and close only under Iran’s control," and said the strait could not be taken over "with a tweet or an aircraft carrier."
The Times of Israel reported that the Al Udeid base in Qatar includes forward components of US Central Command (CENTCOM), as well as the command’s air forces and special operations forces, and it described it as the largest US base in the region.
The same reporting tied the pilots’ fate to the early March downing of Iranian Su-24 bombers, noting that Qatar’s Defense Ministry said on March 2 that it had downed two Iranian Sukhoi Su-24 bombers, while it remained unclear whether they were the same ones Iran later claimed were captured.
With the June framework for peace talks collapsing and the war’s diplomatic track still contested, the pilots’ alleged captivity and Qatar’s denial leave a concrete, unresolved dispute at the center of Iran–Qatar relations during a period of heightened tensions.
