Qatar denies holding Iranian pilots shot down in March
Axios (Tổng hợp từ Al Jazeera English)
Qatar's Foreign Ministry has denied Iran's claims that Doha is secretly holding three Iranian pilots after a Su-24 aircraft was shot down in March, calling the statements "misleading." Tehran had demanded their release, but Qatar insists no surviving pilots are in custody and says it has recovered and returned one pilot's body.
Qatar's Foreign Ministry on October 12 officially rejected accusations from Iran that Doha is secretly holding three Iranian pilots after their aircraft was shot down during a confrontation earlier this year.
Majed Al-Ansari, spokesperson for Qatar's Foreign Ministry, expressed surprise at the "misleading" statements from Iranian officials and reiterated that Qatari forces are not holding any surviving pilots. "We are surprised by the misleading statements about Iranian pilots amid ongoing diplomatic efforts," Al-Ansari told Al Jazeera Arabic.
Qatar's statement came after Tehran publicly demanded the release of the pilots. According to Iran's Fars news agency, General Mohammad Bagherzadeh of Iran's armed forces sent a letter to the International Committee of the Red Cross stating that three pilots—Javad Salehi, Abdolmajid Dashtian, and Omran Behraveshian—were captured alive after their Su-24 aircraft crashed in March. Bagherzadeh said the pilots had been held for six months without contact with their families or diplomatic representatives and called for international humanitarian intervention.
Earlier, Iran had confirmed one pilot was killed and others went missing after a mission over Qatar, but information about the detentions had never been made public.
For its part, Qatari officials confirmed that the country's air defense forces established contact with the Iranian aircraft after it illegally entered its airspace in March. After receiving no response to warnings, Qatari forces opened fire. Search and rescue teams later recovered the body of pilot Majid Kazemi and coordinated with Iran for his repatriation.
The incident occurred amid an attack on Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar—the largest U.S. military base in the region and headquarters of U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM). In early March, Qatar's Defense Ministry announced it shot down two Iranian Su-24 bombers, marking the first time a Gulf state downed Iranian aircraft during the conflict.
The event took place during a wave of retaliatory attacks across the Gulf after the conflict erupted on February 28. Although a ceasefire brokered by Pakistan in April temporarily halted major fighting, peace framework negotiations collapsed in June, leading to sporadic clashes near the Strait of Hormuz and new attacks on shipping and infrastructure in the region.
Despite the controversy, Qatar continues to play a key mediating role and is pushing for a negotiated solution between Iran and the United States.
The diplomatic tension comes as broader peace efforts struggle ahead of an important deadline. The 60-day negotiation window established under a mid-June memorandum will expire on Monday with very little direct dialogue, leaving maritime traffic through the Strait of Hormuz at a trickle.
Speaking to an audience in New York on Friday, U.S. President Donald Trump said Iran was "being defeated very heavily" and suggested he would "soon declare the Strait of Hormuz to be U.S. territory." Tehran immediately dismissed the statement on Saturday. Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi wrote on X that the strategic waterway "cannot be seized by a tweet, nor by an aircraft carrier," warning that Iran would continue enforcing a blockade until Washington accepts the "reality of its failure."
