An Iranian military official demanded on Sunday that Qatar allow an Iranian investigation team into the country to determine the fate of pilots Tehran says were captured by Qatari forces during the ongoing Middle East conflict. The accusation, reported by the semi-official Tasnim news agency, deepens a diplomatic dispute between Iran and its Gulf neighbors over detained military personnel.
Mohammad Baqerzadeh, commander of the Committee for the Search for Missing Persons of Iran’s Armed Forces General Staff, said an Iranian Air Force expert and fact-finding team had been waiting for months to enter Qatar. He accused Qatari officials of repeatedly delaying the investigation and preventing the pilots’ return to Iran.
Conflicting Accounts From Doha
Qatar has denied holding any Iranian pilots. Doha said its search and rescue teams found the remains of one pilot after Iranian aircraft violated Qatari airspace in March and failed to respond to attempts to contact them. Qatar said it had contacted Iran to coordinate the handover of the remains and invited Tehran to review details of its search and rescue operations, but received no response.
The disputed pilots were involved in incidents during the broader US-Israel military campaign against Iran that began on February 28. Iranian aircraft breached Gulf state airspace during retaliatory strikes targeting US military bases in the region, leading to confrontations with Gulf state air defenses.
Kuwait Holds Four Revolutionary Guards Members
Baqerzadeh extended his allegations to Kuwait as well, saying that Kuwaiti authorities were similarly withholding information about the fate of four Iranians held in the country. In May, Iran said the four were affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and had been on a maritime patrol before entering Kuwaiti territorial waters due to a navigation disruption.
Kuwait has offered a different account, saying the four were suspected of planning hostile actions against the country. The case has remained unresolved for months, with neither side providing conclusive evidence to support their version of events.
The Iranian official called on the International Committee of the Red Cross to urgently follow up on both cases, signaling Tehran’s frustration with the lack of progress through bilateral channels. The dispute highlights the fragile state of relations between Iran and Gulf states, which were directly drawn into the conflict when Iran launched retaliatory strikes against US military facilities in Qatar, Kuwait, and Bahrain in early March.
Sources: Reuters; Tasnim News Agency; RTE; the Star (Malaysia); the Jerusalem Post
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