Three Iranian military pilots held captive in Qatar for six months without contact - report

Qatar denied holding three Iranian military pilots, claiming they had violated Qatari airspace earlier this year. The Qatar Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Majed Al-Ansari, stated that search and rescue teams discovered one pilot's remains and that Iran had been contacted to coordinate a handover. Iran, however, reported that the pilots had been detained for six months without contact, with the Iranian Armed Forces General Staff’s committee for missing personnel commander, Mohammad Bagherzadeh, appealing to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) for assistance.

The pilots, identified as Javad Salehi, Abdolmajid Dashtian, and Omran Behraveshian, were captured after their Russian-made Sukhoi Su-24 tactical bombers were targeted during a mission against an enemy military base in Qatar in March. Bagherzadeh noted that the pilots were not allowed to communicate with their families or Iranian officials while in Qatari captivity.

Iran struck Qatar's Ras Laffan gas complex in June, despite Doha offering a secret deal to halt gas production in exchange for a promise of no Iranian strikes on Qatari energy infrastructure. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi mentioned that Iran has been exchanging messages with Qatar and Pakistan regarding negotiations with the United States, but the US has not resumed talks despite the message exchange, insisting that specific conditions must be met for shipping to continue uninterrupted in the Strait of Hormuz.