Iran says missing pilots are alive - in Qatar
After months of uncertainty, Tehran claims three pilots thought missing since their jets were shot down are alive and being held by Qatari forces.
Qatar has denied detaining Iranian pilots, according to a spokesperson for the Qatari foreign ministry. The spokesperson stated that the pilots had violated Qatari airspace earlier in the year and failed to respond to attempts to contact them.
The Qatari foreign ministry also reported that search and rescue teams found the remains of one of the pilots and contacted Iran to coordinate a handover, but Tehran had yet to respond to an invitation to review details of its operations.
Iran, however, claims that three of its pilots were captured alive by Qatari forces after their Su-24 fighter jets crashed during a war, and has called for their release. According to General Mohammad Bagherzadeh of the Iranian armed forces, the pilots - Javad Salehi, Abdolmajid Dashtian, and Omran Behraveshian - have been held by Qatari forces for six months.
Brief written by urgent.news from Middle East Eye, South China Morning Post, Daily Times, The Peninsula Qatar, The Times of Israel — 5 reports on this story. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
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- Qatar denies detaining Iranian pilots, says it found remains of one middleeasteye.net
