Qatar rejects reports it detained Iranian pilots

Qatar has rejected Iran’s claim that it is holding pilots from the country captive.

In a statement posted on X, Foreign Ministry spokesman Majid al-Ansari also expressed surprise at what he called “misleading statements” at a time when diplomatic efforts were under way to de-escalate tensions in the region.

Qatar, alongside Pakistan, is mediating in the conflict between Iran and the US.

On Saturday, Iranian media published a statement by the head of the Committee for Missing Persons at the General Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces.

The statement claims that the Qatari armed forces captured three Iranian pilots after their fighter jets crashed shortly after the start of the Iran-US war.

The letter – which, according to Iranian media reports, also denounced the Qatari government for not allowing the alleged prisoners to contact or meet with their families or Iranian representatives handling their case – is said to have been addressed to the International Committee of the Red Cross.

Back in June, Iran had already stated that it had no information on the pilots’ whereabouts. At the time, it was claimed that the Iranian SU-24 fighter jets had been intercepted by Qatari jets during an attack on the US military base at al-Udeid. Early in the Iran War, the Islamic Republic had struck the base with missiles.

The response from the spokesman for the Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs now indicates that the armed forces took air defence measures against the Iranian fighter jets – possibly shooting them down – after they had entered the country’s airspace.

Search and rescue teams subsequently found the remains of one pilot, al-Ansari wrote. Contact had been made with Iran to coordinate the handover. Qatar had also invited an Iranian team to find out about the details of the search and rescue operations. However, the invitation had gone unanswered.