Qatar rejects Iran’s ‘false’ claims about missing pilots

Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman has categorically denied Iran’s accusation of holding prisoner three military pilots whose planes crashed in the early days of the war, calling the claims “completely baseless, false and illogical”.

During a news conference on Tuesday, Majed al-Ansari reiterated that Qatar handed over the remains of one of the pilots after they were found last April to an Iranian delegation.

The comments come after Iranian office-holders publicly claimed that the pilots were secretly detained after being captured, demanding that Qatar release them.

In a letter to the International Committee of the Red Cross, Iranian General Mohammad Bagherzadeh remarked three pilots – Javad Salehi, Abdolmajid Dashtian and Omran Behraveshian – survived after their warplanes crashed in March and were captured alive, according to Iran’s Fars news agency.

Bagherzadeh said the men have been held for six months, cut off from communication, and called on international humanitarian intervention.

During his weekly press briefing, al-Ansari said the planes were targeted as they “violated Qatar’s sovereignty and the city of Doha, and that they were dealt with according to the law”.

He expressed surprise at the claims raised by Tehran, stressing that Doha had invited the Iranian side to send a technical team to review the search operations, but it did not respond. While emphasising the priority of diplomatic action and dialogue.