WANA (Aug 16) – General Bagherzadeh, Commander of the Search Committee for the Missing-in-Action of the General Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces, has called on the Qatari government to grant permission for an expert Iranian team to enter the country and investigate the fate of Iranian pilots, rejecting Qatar’s recent denial that it is holding them captive.

 

Addressing the Qatari denial, General Bagherzadeh stated that a team of elite experts from Iran’s Air Force had been waiting for several months to enter Qatar to conduct an on-the-ground investigation. He accused Qatari officials of repeated delays and obstruction, which he said had prevented the return of the Iranian pilots to their homeland.

 

The general urged the Qatari government to stop denying the issue and impeding the search for truth, calling on Doha instead to allow the expert delegation from the Air Force of the Army of the Islamic Republic of Iran to travel to Qatar.

 

He also stressed the need for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to urgently follow up on the situation. Furthermore, Bagherzadeh issued a warning regarding Kuwait, noting that Kuwaiti authorities had similarly avoided providing information on the fate of four Iranians reportedly detained there.

 

The remarks followed statements made earlier by Majed al-Ansari, Spokesperson for the Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who denied that Qatar was holding the three Iranian pilots.

 

Posting on X (formerly Twitter), al-Ansari stated that following an airspace violation in March, Qatari forces had attempted to contact the Iranian pilots and confirmed their target trajectory. He maintained that after the pilots failed to respond to communications, Qatar had acted to defend its territory in accordance with the rules of engagement and international law.

 

Al-Ansari added that Qatari search and rescue teams had carried out search operations following the incident, and that the Qatari government had been in contact with Iran regarding the handover of the remains of one pilot recovered during the search.