Qatar Denies Holding Three Iranian Pilots

Qatar’s Foreign Ministry rejected on Saturday claims that it is holding Iranian pilots in custody, opening a fresh dispute between Doha and Tehran at the very moment both sides are working through intermediaries to ease tensions in the Gulf. For Serbia, the story is not as distant as it looks: how fast that de-escalation moves will decide when shipping through the Strait of Hormuz returns to normal, a passage that carries a large share of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas exports, and any hold-up there shows up quickly in European energy prices.

Ministry spokesman and adviser to the prime minister Majed Al Ansari was blunt in a statement posted on X: “We categorically deny the claims circulating about the detention of Iranian pilots.”

What happened on March 2?

Qatar’s air force shot down two Iranian Su-24 bombers over its airspace that day, in the opening days of a war that began on February 28, when the United States and Israel launched a joint military campaign against Iran. According to an Iranian commander, the aircraft had been on a mission targeting the US Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar and were hit on their way back.

Al Ansari says Doha tried to reach the crews once they had entered Qatari airspace and their flight path had been confirmed:

“After we followed the rules of engagement and attempted to establish communication with them, and received no response, the necessary measures were taken to defend our territory.”

Qatar says search and rescue teams then looked for the crews, recovered the remains of one pilot, and coordinated the handover with Iran. That pilot was Brigadier General Majid Kazemi, identified through genetic analysis and buried in Shiraz in late July.

Iran seeks Red Cross mediation

Iran’s armed forces command for missing personnel tells a different story. In its version, three pilots survived being shot down, were captured by Qatari forces, and have spent six months in detention with no contact with their families and no way for officials in Tehran to take up their case. Iran has named them as Javad Salehi, Abdolmajid Dashtiyan and Omran Behravesian.

Sardar Bagherzadeh, who commands Iran’s missing persons committee, wrote to Mirjana Spoljaric Egger, president of the International Committee of the Red Cross, asking the organization to visit the pilots, check on their condition and help secure their release. In the same letter he accused Qatari officials of ongoing obstruction and delay, and said a team of Iranian air force experts has been waiting for months to enter Qatar and carry out an investigation on the ground.

Doha’s answer is that the invitation has already been sent. Qatar invited Iran’s investigative team in April to come and receive details of the search and rescue operation, but, according to Al Ansari, Tehran never responded. Bagherzadeh puts it the other way around, saying that instead of denials and obstacles on the road to the truth, the Qatari government should let a fact-finding team in.

A dispute in the middle of Hormuz Strait talks

Bagherzadeh raised the same complaint against Kuwait, over what he describes as the fate of four Iranians held by Kuwaiti forces.

All of this is playing out while tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz remains stalled. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Saturday that talks between Iran and Oman are moving forward and that the two sides have reached an agreement on arrangements for passage through the strait, but that Tehran has not decided to resume negotiations with Washington, and is making that conditional on the United States first meeting its demands over navigation.

Qatar says diplomatic efforts to reduce tensions continue. The case of the three pilots now sits with the International Committee of the Red Cross, while Qatar’s April invitation to Iran’s investigative team still stands unanswered.